In 1899, Charles H. Duell, the Director of the U.S. Patent Office, said, "Everything that can be invented has been invented." Clearly, he was not an out-of-the-post-office-box thinker.

At Flynn & Friends, "creative stuff" is our livelihood. But, contrary to what many people may think, it doesn't always mean coming up with never-been-done-before ideas. It does, however, mean the ability to see connections between things that, at first glance, may seem totally unrelated.

For this particular project, our inspiration came from the I Ching, or Book of Changes, a 3,000-year-old Chinese oracle. Since ancient times it has provided readers with insight into their own lives and guidance for the future.

The book consists of 64 hexagrams, each of whose combinations of six broken and/ or unbroken lines has a dynamic meaning that offers a window into the forces of life at that time. It operates on the principle of synchronicity ? the concept that the microcosm of the moment in which the I Ching's hexagram is cast is related to the macrocosm of the larger forces of life at that time.

One hexagram in particular resonated with us. Called "Ku," it translates as "Work On What Has Been Spoiled." In other words, what has been spoiled through man's faults can be redeemed through man's work ? a concept that truly captured the nature of NFCS' work in environmental renewal.

And so an idea for a logo was born.