The logo for the Victorian Women Dentists' Association was appropriated from that of the successful Women in Dentistry Symposium held in Melbourne in 1996.   Many of the members of the VWDA organised and attended this conference.   The founding committee of the VWDA heard no dissent when discussion on logo unanimously agreed to approach Professor Louise Brearley Messer for permission to appropriate the logo design.   Indeed, some of the present committee were involved in the design of the original logo and recall the alternative designs and colours to be incomparable to the harmony and balance interpreted from the logo design.   In the Conference logo design, the fluid interposition of the yin and yang design around a curving centre-line, and the curves within the circular design remind one of the continuity and balance of life, whilst incorporating a softness not to be found in the alternative designs presented to the initial conference committee by the graphic artist hired to design an appropriate logo. Triangles and hard edged shapes giving way to a preference for the stylised "D" within the Women in Dentistry Conference logo. Colour played as much a part in the logo design as did shape. Hard colours such as blue and red, as well as pink with its gender specific connotations were rejected in favour of the teal and violet colours which seemed to be 'calm' and 'cool', and blended so well in the logo and on the white page paper.   Almost opposite to each other on the colour wheel, the two colours with white appealed instantly to the women who were selecting the logo. Colour perception involves physiological capacity as well as emotional associations and stylistic preference. For example, khaki and brown may invoke a military presence, whilst brunswick green and vermilion red a time from Victorian internal design.   Some colours used together may interact creating a third colour unlike the first two, or may grey each other when in close approximation, as with colours from opposite the colour wheel. The effect of a negative afterimage created by using primary colours may have been one reason for the group to choose colours which did not seem to fight each other. The use of equivalent size of teal and white with the violet central area created a harmony unchanged, as it could have been, with use of high value, high intensity colour blocks of unequal size.   Some colours imply heat, and some cold, others pleasure or pain. Red, for example, can connote a warning for danger, or a welcome warmth, depending upon other stimuli surrounding the colour. The colour red may even raise one's blood pressure, whilst blue may lower blood pressure. (In between respectively from most raising to least raising are the colours orange, yellow and green).   Soft pink may quiet the agitated.   Indeed many artists have pleased themselves and others with experimental use of colour in abstract forms.  (Or displeased others.)   And not just "modern" artists from the twentieth century. Psychologists have written upon the meanings of colour preferences, physiologists have written upon age related loss of ability to distinguish colour, musicians have equated colour with musical notes, and others would like to believe that light may improve bodily healing.
The logo for the Victorian Women Dentists' Association seems to successfully convey the aspirations and values of the group of talented female dentists.