Alternate Versions of the VFD Logo?

[Uncle Algernon]

It's generally accepted that the 'official', book version of the VFD Logo goes something like the middle one of these: 



However, I've never liked it overmuch, as it doesn't look all that much like an eye at all. I mean, it does if you're looking for it, but I don't know if I'd guess it was supposed to be an eye if I caught a glimpse of it on a malevolent aristocrat's ankle. Also, the F and D are weirdly distorted.

I'm not entirely sure where the one on the left came from (EDIT: ah, right, it's a variant from the illustrations), but it's a frequent sight around the Internet. While it fixes the matter of looking like an eye, it warps the letter even further beyond recognition. 

The one on the right I haven't seen anywhere prior to stumbling on this image as I prepared this thread, but I like it more than the other two; the D's still a bit weird, mind you.

To these I'll add the Netflix version—

this fanmade one from reddit, which is perhaps my favorite—



—and my own doodled attempt:

 

Which I believe (if you will forgive a pointed lack of humility) improves on the previous one by having all the letters be capital, and shares all of its strng suits. 

So my questions are:

     • Which of all of these do you prefer? Would you choose any of them in your headcanon? Or yet another possibility?

     • Is there any canonical information ruling out any of the above designs? 

     • Setting aside non-three-letters-compliant designs like early Helquist, the movie version, and the French 'VDC' version, are there any "official" versions that I missed? 

[Dante]

In your initial banner image, the first version of the insignia is actually used all over the books; Madame Lulu's tent and advertisements in TCC, Olaf's tent in TSS, and while even post-U.A. Helquist's illustrations of Olaf's ankle tattoo tend to be weirdly off-model then they're a lot closer to that version. So both of those first two options are very much canon, or at least illustration-canon (with the third and all others being fanart). If there's a rule, it appears to be that the middle option is a formal version used on official V.F.D. documents such as in the U.A., where there's less need to be subtle about the design's actual significance; and the first option is a disguised version for use in public or otherwise out in the wild.

[Violent BUN Fortuna]

I don’t have much to add because I agree with what Dante said, but as you were talking about whether or not the official version is even recognisable as an eye, I just thought I’d mention that I showed that version to a friend years ago, and they instantly said ‘it’s an eye, right?’. They hadn’t ever read the books and knew nothing about VFD at all so I was pleasantly surprised that they could see what it was supposed to look like. I do like the design, I think it’s quite clever and I can definitely see both the eye and the letters in there, but I must confess I never thought someone who wasn’t looking for it — who didn’t already know it’s double meaning — would be able to see it as an eye. So perhaps it’s a better design than it might appear. 🙂

[Foxy]

My personal favorite "V.F.D." illustration is this one from the Netflix final episode, , but I feel like it's missing the "F."

[tonyvfd]

I like the third one. The Netflix version looked like a tree with a sun in the background.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

When I think of the VFD insignia, I get the impression that Daniel Handler thought of VFD well after publishing Book 3. I can not imagine Dr. Owerl's office resembling these initials.

[Dante]

Daniel Handler's original contract was for four books, and he genuinely believed that he wouldn't get an extension. It's very telling that the character of the series changes considerably after TMM, and we start being introduced to more ongoing plotlines and mysteries and connections.

[the panopticountolaf]

This may well be in the wrong section of the board, but I thought I'd share a very rough sketch -- I'm not really an artist -- of the way that I personally imagined the V.F.D. insignia. I tried to make it something that would be instantly recognizable in any sort of environment, while keeping the letters and the eye shape as much as possible.

Attachments:

[tricky]

my favourite is the anna spath version (https://annaspath.tumblr.com/post/153388909118/asoue-concepts#_=_) which I hope to get tattooed reasonably soon!!!!!!

[R.]

Never ever ever get an insignia tattooed on your ankle. Someone might get the wrong idea and call the cops on you.

[Optimism is my Phil-osophy]

After all, the meaning of a tattoo can change from one hour to the next ...

[tricky]

cowards

[MisterM]

That's really cool, and I don't recall seeing it before

[the panopticountolaf]

reviving this thread because i think i've found my favorite version of the v.f.d. eye design yet, created by gwb_ted on flickr in 2008 (!!) it's gorgeous, striking, has all three letters, and looks like an eye!

[MisterM]

Thats very urban.