Designer: Matthew Clark
Member of: GDC, Canada

About the design

Founded in 1987, the Vancouver Police Department's Emergency Response Team (ERT) is the police force's elite group of officers that deal with critical incidents and operations requiring specialised tactics and equipment. ERT officer job responsibilities include responding to high-risk and critical incidents, invariably using special tactics, training and the use of firearms and specialized equipment/weaponry and working in conjunction with team members, general patrol members and other specialty squads to diffuse dangerous and potentially hostile situations.



The current logo featured a dated firearm as the most dominant symbol, and sent the wrong message about who the ERT is as a team and what their role is in the Vancouver Police Department. The new logo needed to be true to the values of the ERT, and forger a stronger connection to the logo's primary audience: ERT officers themselves, both past and present, as well as other members of the VPD. Its purpose is to stand as a "badge of honour" that directly connects them to their responsibilities, their vales and their beliefs."



Beyond their superior experience, training, knowledge and tactical expertise, ERT officers are part of a tight-knit team that embraces such values as valour, strength, readiness, intelligence, dedication and teamwork on a daily basis. They are both a "force to be reckoned with", and an embodiment of adaptiveness and intelligence. Their motto, "Apto Improvidus Victum" literally means "Improvise, Adapt, Overcome".



The logomark is simple, strong and bold, and features two silhouetted officers revealing themselves to form the "ERT" letters, suggesting the dual "covert yet powerful" nature of ERT officers when responding to critical incidents. It bravely avoids the category clichés both in ERT and SWAT teams, as well as in law enforcement generally such as crests, shields, lightning bolts, large weapons, swords and animals, focusing instead on the real strength of the ERT: the officers themselves.



As part of the launch, a poster campaign has been created to bring another level of depth to the ERT mandate, and features a series of words that both describe the ERT and feature the letters "ERT" in them. From "EXPERT" to "CERTAIN" to "LIBERTY", the posters are an internal rallying cry, moral-booster, and daily reminder of the role and responsibilities of the ERT.



Client: Vancouver Police Department ERT
Designer and Illustrator: Matthew Clark
CD: Matthew Clack, Roy White / Writer: Matthew Clark
Design firm: Subplot Design Inc.
Dimensions: 14" x 24"
Copyright: 2009 Subplot Design Inc.

About the designer

Subplot Design Inc. is a leading brand design firm with international experience in creating category-defining corporate and consumer brands. We specialise in powerful ideas that build intelligent, relevant, stand-out brands and communications in what has become an increasingly competitive marketplace. From our Vancouver, BC owned and operated offices, we do this with breakthrough creative brand design including Logomarks + Identity, Brand Packaging, Product Design, Print Communications, Annual Reports, and Retail Identities + Environments.

Matthew Clark
Subplot Design Inc.
318 Homer Street, Suite 301
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6B 2V2 Canada
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F: +1 604 685 2909
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W: www.subplot.com