When we decided on a new logo for Streamline, we thought hard about what the one idea was that people should take home with them, and here it is:

"Dear business owner: You can turn your business into an efficient machine; a fast car that will give you lots of thrills and fun, but ultimately you will become its servant. You will have to keep on replacing parts, keep on refueling it, and keep on steering it. The moment your attention wavers it will break down, go off the road, or even kill you.

Or you can choose to turn your business into a tree. It will take nurturing, attention and a long time to grow. But one day it will provide you with abundant fruit and shade - and will do so for many generations to come."

The analogy works great on other levels too - a machine is a dumb thing, it cannot get its own fuel, it cannot adapt to changes in the environment. It's built to do one thing and one thing only. It polutes the world and it WILL break down sooner or later. A tree on the other hand doesn't need external control or someone to constantly tell it what to do. It feeds itself. It adapts and is always in harmony with its environment. A tree feeds you.

The fact that the logo looks a bit like a brain was a happy coincidence.

Pieter Hugo, CEO, Streamline, Jan 2009