Above, the Fisk Tire boyused a clever pun to induce

sales. Below, Psyche, thegoddess of purity, watches

over White Rock Beveragesjust as she has done since

this painting was firstpresented at the World's

Fair of 1893.

LOGOTYPEntil about the 1930s, the majority of logos in America tended tobe of the pictorial or literal kinds. Trademark characters such as

the Dutch Boy, the White Rock girl and the Fisk Tire boy, often repro-duced from large oil paintings, were common in more innocent days.Nowadays, the friendly company trademark has matured into thehard-edged icon, a "shorthand" version of the "formal script" that wasthe complex, old-fashioned logo.

Logo design of today includes a limitless variety of styles. As in fashion, abroader range of styles is acceptable than was ever the case historically. That's becausetoday's logos are more often concept-driven, which means that the idea we wish to con-vey often dictates the style we choose to express it in. In this section I've attempted toshow examples of various logo categories. The "literal" logo is often just a nameplate(pages 18-21). Monogrammatic logos are an ancient tradition, reaching back to thefirst time Glug scratched his initial on his club (pages 22-23). Abstract logos, whenwell designed, succeed just like modern art (pages 24-25). Retro logos are taken seri-ously by some who emulate the best aspects of the Victorian or Art Deco styles in their

logos, while others delight in purposely aping thenaivete found in much period work (pages 26-31).

Of all the styles of logo design, I am most in-trigued—and sometimes amazed—by logos that pulldouble and triple duty. These kind not only present thecompany name or its initials, but convert them intographics that identify the company's product. The view-er of such a logo becomes a participant in an interactiveproject to decipher the riddle of the image. Of course, ifthe design is too clever or difficult to decipher, the logowould have to be considered a failure.

Ending this section is a showcase of German design-ers who pioneered this conceptual form and influencedthe style of today's logo design (pages 32-35).

: Design a logo (find someone—even if it's yourself-—for whom tomake a real logo, rather than wasting time on a useless, hypothetical project) andproduce rough comps based on the various categories demonstrated in this section.

LOGO. FONT St LETTERING BIBLE 17

Dutch Boy paint has beenused in American homessince 1907, The image hasbeen kept alive, below, withupdated type and design tokeep it fresh.

L. 1 ! LI IA r\-

OASH MUST BE SENT WITH ALL ORDERS. NO GOODS SHIPPED C.• ." " '" .* -10.7.-J

O. D.

OUR PATALOGUE-

56-96 FULTON. ST.73-67 N. DESPLA! NES.ST1-3 t WAYMAN.ST/4--S8 N J EFFETRSON, ST

CABLS ADUHESSi "SUPPLY."iBFi-rwiHf-' WUH ' W^STLRN UN ION AND'F. . BRB WITH j POSTA|_ T£LEGRAPH cos

1QNC DISTANCE "HONE I1ONFiO£24

\OVER 100.COO ILLUSTRATIONS

£, AKD QUOTATIONS, MAILED TO

ANY ADDRESS OH RECEIPT OF

50 CENTS.

WE SELl EVERYTHING

JET MAILORDER ONLY, TO OUR

TWO MILLION CUSTOMERS ALL

,/OVER THE WORLD,

~*fc

CHICAGO,

The Sears company has come a long way since the 1902 letterhead,above, and so has its logo. The current version, right, is a goodexample of the current trend in corporate identity, Basic and legi-ble as its letterforms are, the unusual inline treatment, suggestingstrokes overlapping one another, brings a unique dimension thatmakes this logo unlike any other currently in use.

Once upon a time, as this

letterhead reminds us, a

logo was only as good as

the local printer's supply

of fancy wood and metal

fonts. Surprisingly, design

has lately come hill circle,

with many designers

offering little more than"font selection" as their

creative contribution

to logo design.

The logo below, designed

byjHIwithLiietteGicel,

utilizes the font

Copperplate as its basis.

Yet the simple design for a

real estate company rises

above the commonplace

by the elegant and

ingenious device of the

overlapping double Ds

that draw the eyes to this

fulcrum of interest.

485

Of CORNELLS & "WILLISSAMUEl: M. CORNELL,)SIDNEY CORNELL, \N R. WILLIS. ) - » ...

36 Courfbmdf-Sf., near Grtenwlch-Strert,TERMS Oppo»it« Meietiir.ii;' I'...'

ty Gi»o Notice, when Oo*l« irr d*Uy«4beyond th» uitul lim* ol tnmilt, »nd immediately «ft« 'heir rewipt, of »ny •rron.

UNITED)OMINION

L. DOUGLASFORGENTLEMEN.

, thf owner of the W. L Douglas Shoe Company was his own

. Hiike became a "media" fixture at the turn of the nineteenth

). Although it lacked any decent sense of typography, no one

tirgue with this logo's attention-grabbing appeal.

LOGO, FONT a LETTERING BIBLE 19

Below is the American eagle in a design of classic symmetry and

elegance. Though it was originally used as a self-stamped envelope

design (unfortunately the envelope of choice in the recent Fort

Detrick anthrax mail scare), this piece by Michael Doret for tbe U.S.

Postal Service has all the dynamic qualities of a good logo.

f»

mmm

rU i A

3 4

0t attb CourierIje flost ant* (Eouror

son specializes in the design and redesign of publication

, like that above for Charleston's Post and Courier, seen

pre- and post-Parkinson incarnations. This is as literal a

m one can get—in just a nameplate—with a concept havingTo do with the "Old English" lettering suggesting decorum

Itfengihy heritage. Parkinson's revision exemplifies those quali-

considers in improving lettering designs. Most noticeably,

letter weights have been evened up by eliminating too-light and too-

heavy strokes, creating consistent angles and stem weights, and mak-

ing all letters appear to be of the same family. Such details may go

unnoticed by 95 percent of readers, yet I believe such improvements

elevate a publication's overall status and credibility for that discern-

ing 5 percent (which may include advertisers). And I do think, on

some subconscious levels, the masses generally recognize quality.

20 LITERAL LOGOS—WITH A TWIST

The logo for TreePeople,designed by Ray Wood,

functions on two levels: Itis both literal and inferen-tial. We recognize the leaf

motif at once, but thedesign also cleverly sug-

gests an earth where thegift of greenery is

universally celebrated.

•MMMMMHI "•"••TREEPEOPLEAt first glance, we view the name KatzRadio Group and see the rules merelyas decorative architecture. Only thendo we recognize the radio dial in Jona-than Macagba's literal concept.

KATZi i

R A D I O G R O U P

Use of the American eagleas a trademark image for

the American NationalBank might be considered

literally obvious. Butdesigner Chris Costello's

excellent and powerfulrendering picks up in the

decorative departmentwhere any small lack of

concept left off.

Punchstock's punchy fontis totally unique. That's

because it's actually customlettering by Jennifer Katcha

with Kevin Wade forPlanet Propaganda.

AmericanNATIONAL BANK

The name of the comp-any is Liberty and if theviewer is still unsure, theconcept is spelled out ina monogram of stars.

*******^ ^% ^%

******************************

Liberty

******************************

punchA i r p o r t M e d i a

Left, so obvious yet long overlooked was this concept behind Nate Lambdin's logo for JHI. I'venever before seen the simple, ubiquitous market sandwich sign being used as a logo. Above, theclever hole and tag string added to this otherwise simple logo by Keith Campbell is just enoughgraphic context to indicate the company's purpose—it sells advertising on airline luggagename/address tags—and to capture the viewer's curiosity.

LOGO, FONT & LETTERING BIBLE

CHISWICK

CAT SPAW

..

t > rBBER HEELS

21

Far left, a simple logo forBell, a butcher. I'm not sure

if the image is supposed to

be some handheld bell or

just a fortuitous arrange-

ment of black lettering, but

it's so damned beautiful.Left, another simple, literal

logo so nicely arranged, we

don't mind the lack of any

tricky design.

Far left, this logo by Mark

Fox literally portrays the

red herring but then throws

us one in the nifty treat-

ment of /?-/?, which becomes

the concept of the piece.

Left, this logo by the author

for Kitchen Sink Press,

lacking any real concept,

derives its charm from the

literal image of the

antique kitchen faucet.

Cat's Paw, a logo designedfay Lucian Bernhard, is sucha classic, it had to beincluded here. The conceptis, again, literal: There's thecat, and there's his paw. Butthrough sheer strength ofthe stark composition, thelogo grips us like a pair ofrubber heels.

IB felden Barrel, and here we have a. . . golden oak barrel, appropriatelylimitation woodcut style by Russ Cox of Smiling Otis Studio. Originally inked

pe logo was meticulously redrawn in Adobe Illustrator and quite grace-Midi is not an easy task! As with many of the examples on this page, the lit-

I lacking cleverness or concept, has been justified by virtue of a really

22

Right, iconoclast literallymeans the smashing of

images, and that's why Imade this frame-breaking

logo for IconodassicsPublishing Co.

Middle right, Jonathan

Hacagba's chemical tablelogo is a great solution

for Future Beta, Inc. Farright, another Macagba

logo. The M is forMercury.

Large in center, pd stands

for Paper Doll, a very hap-

pening clothing companywith a happening logo to

match. Below right, theW is for Vinyl Avenger, a/ o

DJ in Dirk Uhlenbrock'sneck of the woods.

Below, I love the simple

logo for J HI, theRichmond, Virginia-

based design firm. Thedotted/reads "lightbulb"

as if to illustrate

the firm's web site name:www.jhigoodidea.com.

MONOGRAMMATiC LOGOS

GIFTS AGARDENS

Above, find the monogram in this logo by theauthor for Very important Planet, a gift shoplocated in the Virgin Islands.

LOGO, FONT a LETTERING BIBLE

Left, variations on a themefor Seth Bernstein's Form,Function & Finesse studio. Ialways like to introducealternate versions of 3single logo, and I trust thepublic at least to the degreethat they'll still recognizethe basic image. Apparently,Bernstein feels the same.

Find the monograms: Above left, an amaiing double monogram in the logo for MelWhitson Stationers, designed by Robert Overby (1962). Above center, logo forWestcoast Landscape by Conrad Angone (1962). Above right, Mike Samuel'sdesign for Small Craft manages to included both initial letters into the logo.

SMALL CRAFT

Enbus mark by Dirk Uhlenbrock for a design firm. In his words, "Thisi is utlid tovier. The first syllable sounds similar to Reh, the German word

&jnd the second syllable, vier, could also be the number vier, which is•ttycool, Dirk! (de is the suffix for Deutscherwb sites.)

Left, the Mf stands forKonrad Mathieu, anIT-solutions company inKb'ln. Logo by DirkUhlenbrock. The backwardsK also functions as anarrow.

24 ABSTRACTION IN LOGO DESIGN

NT£RNATIONALS-€RVIC€ Of A R T TO INDUSTRY

BRUNO PAUL- ROCKWELL K€NT • PAULPOIR€T • LUCIAN'

Top, with the emergence of the field of industrial design,

which came about in the 1930s, four artists, hoping to

capitalize on their combined international appeal,

formed Contempora, Inc. The logo is abstract, but cer-

tainly evokes contemporaneousness to me.

Above, another set of three artists formed Pronova.

Their abstract logo at least implies a triumvirate—of

something. Their stamp, right, reverses the logo's color

sequence, which today's clients are often afraid to do.

Above left, this delicate abstraction may have been

meant to suggest the three stars of the Von Der Lancken,tundquist and Sorenson Agency (1955).

.

. H . ..• : •

PRONOVAI] 17TW SI N '•

RSHAM 7

LOGO, FONT a LETTERING BIBLE 25

Museum Books ire

books anil tin-. -'' and fine art

48 East 43rd Street New York (7, N. Y. Murray Hilt 2-0430

wiper-engraved logo from 1802 with a literal depiction

[fer this fancy cloth goods merchant. Many years later, the

&) fabric bolt in the Chase Manhattan Bank logo takes on

|tf abstraction through its stylization.

Left, the Museum Books

logo by John Ciampi

is a beauty. It evokes

Picasso's Guernica with

an added initial M in a

skewed warm gray rec-

tangle that just reeks

(in a positive way) of

the 1950s.

Guerilla 3ne.comTop, Tom Geismar's famous abstract Chase Manhattan Bank logo suggests

continuity, stability, possibly an ancient coin design. And maybe art indica-

tion of a f can be found in the folds of such a classic commodity as dry

goods, or perhaps ticker tape? Above, designer Stan Endo swears his Guer-

illaOne.com logo is no guerrilla parody of Chase. Any resemblance between

Chase and this logo for a dance party organizer is purely coincidental.

REFERENTIAL NOT RETRO—LOGOS

Gerard Huerta tacklesany style of logo or

lettering with the sameconsummate skill. Design

is design, only styleschange while the under-lying principles remain.

Maybe that's whyHuerta's Caroline St.

Railroad, DeRosa's andCigar logos are all so

different in style, yet allso finely rendered.

For this tractor logo,right, Deutscber designerDirk Uhlenbrock retained

the symmetrical layout,the bunted seal and

Siitterl in-style antiquatedGerman handscript as his

links to tradition.But his simplified treat-ment of these elements

is strictly mw—andtotally Uhlenbrock.

Above, Gerard Huerta must have been born out of time. His intricatelettering for the Hand Made Cigar Collector's Guide & Journal wouldhave landed him a job at any nineteenth century print shop.

FIRST COLONYC O F F E E & TEA C9

FIRST COLONYRight, and above right, if intended as examples of classic labeldesign, these First Colony Coffee & Tea logos by Nate Lambdin forJHI could be said to have missed the mark. But as examples ofmodem design that add some new verbiage to the classic label lex-icon, they work smashingly well.

LOGO. FONT & LETTERING BIBLE 27

*

II

F E R R YB U I L D I N G

M M A

Louise Fill's logos for thePink Door, Malama andDelamar reveal her penchantfor retro styling. Yet Fillmanages to imbue her workwith ail the elegance andromantic flavor of classicEuropean Deco design with-out ever letting it becomecloymglv "nostalgic."

D E IA VM A RC R E E N"W 1 C H - H A R B O R

E L M A

G A R C I A

P I L M S

T H E M O T H E R S H I P

Michael Schwab is one of those designers whose every piececarries his unmistakable stylistic signature. Although Schwab'swork takes its cues from retro reference, his dynamic andspartan compositions have a timeless appeal.

28

Right, Mercury must have

had better things to do than

to flit around Manhattan

delivering photostats, but

this naive period image,

accompanied by really nice

lettering, would barely have

raised a snicker in 1945.

IRREVERENTLY RETRO LOGOS

Right, some logos try to

seriously achieve a retro

look. This design by the

author for a silk-screen T-

shirt printer mocks the

gravity of much Art Deco

imagery that some 1930s

companies used

in all seriousness.

Above, this gorgeously designed, inked and colored logo by Mark Fisher conjures

up all the alluring nostalgia of an old matchbook cover. Above right, Fisher brings

the naivete of the 1950s to this logo for Cosmo Icecreamo. But it's too over the

top to be truly of the period and becomes instead a delicious parody. Bless the

client that lets us get away with designing something this much fun.

LOGO, FONT & LETTERING BIBLE

'logos of Seymour Chwast and his current Pushpin Group associates are

HJ for their strong design and gentle humor. In pointing out the references

fe JWffjflH/ 1930s in firs work, it should be noted that in the 1960s,

ist became one of the first retro revivalists and gets a iot of the credit (or

K?} for pointing the rest of us in this direction. Above, Solo, designed with

[Simpson, for a publishing group; right, Lo'rke, a German clothing concern;

iw, for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art.

Right Brave World is a film production company whose

logo giddily parodies old self-important RKO Pictures

movie titles. The brave design—nicely executed!—is by

Dan Ibarra and Jamie Karlin of Planet Propaganda.

Above, the original logo

for Seymour Chwast and

Milton Glaser's Push Pin

Studios, c. 1959. The

name itself is gently

seif-parodying and cer-

tainly indicative of the

style and attitude that

put this highly influen-

tial, and trend-setting

studio on the map.

P R O D U C T I O N S

30 AMUSING RETRO LOGOS / CALLIGRAPHIC AND HANDMADE LOGOS

Michael Doret has made

his fame by illustrating

with letters. His logos, like

U Mogul, Coolsville and

Bedlam Ballroom, above

and right, reveal his total

unreliance upon stock

fonts. Instead, each letter

is drawn from scratch,

according to the design

concept. Doret revels in

retro and has long been a

trendsetter in the style.

Right, a double-take Mark

Fox logo for a proposed

production of the rock

opera Jesus Christ

Superstar. The cross on

Golgotha can be seenin the face of Jesus.

Far right, logo for a

textile manufacturer by

Ross, Culbert and Lavery,

Inc. in the old German

style. The letterforms are

unusual, especially the X.

Planet Propaganda's Jamie Karlin and Dana Lytle created

the logo above for an E-business consulting company. Dog

collar and sunrays are cleverly combined into one image.

* * **

LOGO, FONT & LETTERING BIBLE 31

wntft/uinffc^^—^

Left, there can be no better expression of the

word Triumphant! than in Jill Bell's exuberant

logo for a point-of-purchase display. Below,

Bell's treatment of the Seahorses is an inter-

esting brush treatment that breaks step with

traditional calligraphy style.

HOZEN CUSTARD

* delightful calligraphic logo by Chris

urklish." Adding to the intrigue is

blended watercolor treatment.

Left, this logo by Russ Cox maintains a

consistent feeling from the casual, car-

toony lettering to the cartoony kid. Right,

Carol Chu created this logo for a group

working with children who lost a parent

in the 9-11 disaster. This design, with its

unassuming type and optimistic graphic,

reminds us of how a logo can be used to

convey the most subtle concepts.alii a limehoDe:tle

^

"*» Above left, a proposed logo by the author for arestaurant. The name alone put me in aMediterranean mood, which inspired the mosaictiles. Drawn in Illustrator, in strokes, outlineswere created, then the whole was united.Releasing Compound Paths allowed me to filleach tile differently from a pallet of alike tones.

Above, Mark Simonson saysof his logo for the LakeWobegon baseball team,"The Whippets were perenniallosers, so I did the manda-tory baseball script runningdownhill rather than up."

32

**»"

*

LOU m

1924

KLINGSPORKALENDER

The Germans are responsible for inventing the modem iconic trademark as an out-

growth of the heavy gothic, black-letter schrift, or script, that evolved as their

unique adaptation of the roman alphabetic forms. They started playing with sim-

plified design as far back as 1905 when America had just renounced the excesses of

Victoriana for an only slightly less fussy Colonial Revival. I always say that if itweren't for African Americans' influence upon music the rest of us might still bewaltzing in powdered wigs. To that I might add, but for the Germans, all our logosmight still be kitschy oil paintings of cows, kids and mythical figures. But they didmore, the Germans: They added the concept of concept to their stripped-down

trademark symbols, many of which were no longer arcane abstractions as oldtradesmen's marks had been, but became endowed with wit and meaning.

LOGO, FONT & LETTERING BIBLE 33

MALERebGRAPHIKERB E R L I N SW68 R TTERSTR.55

'ii*-C?1*'*

^rance)

34

H A N D E L S Z E I C H E N

mEISTERVery little is known about Karl Schulpig (1864-1948), who has emerged as the quintessentialGerman logo designer. Schulpig's bold style and clever visual puns, widely emulated after the pub-lication of the author's d Treasury of German Trademarks (1982), might even qualify him as thefather of the modern icon. German designers appear to have been so well respected, and printingso accessible, that Schulpig could issue 3 yearly booklet displaying his accomplishments, somethingunheard of in America at the time. The marks on these pages were created from 1922 to 1928.

3 E L S Z E I C H E N

'gm:

LOGO, FONT & LETTERING BIBLE 35;

auANTO

LOGO, FONT & LETTERING BIBLE 43

m umenniL compfccoiite page, the restless mind at work; Fred:>-;er (1883-1961) emblazoned this letter from. -aiional magazine with rough monogram designsy the editor and art director. Watch as Cooper's3«s take flight, sequencing from one concept tobe next. (This page was reprinted from theur.:n book The Lettering and Graphic Design of;-J- Cooper, 1996, Art Direction Book Co.)

>; -n ingenious is Daniel Pelavin, who creates hisbmbnails in marker, below, scans, then auto-race: them to e-mail to clients. This method has itsaer>j. The client understands that these are roughs•: ::ein't take anything too literally at this point,u i-g the artist lots of leeway to embellish later,*i despite the sketchiness of these roughs, little<x:: is left 35 to the direction the artist is heading.i::* :hat while color is not yet indicated at this:-!•-., the all-important interplay of light and darkart-asis is already hilly developed in Pelavin'sw-:. He adds letters beside each sketch so thektt can say, "I like F, it's perfect! But could youc: ~3*E one little change..." Bear in mind that aB: accomplished designer than Pelavin might not*t 3*ay with such sketchy comps. The finished art-•wt, right, was done in Adobe Illustrator.

After the research and reference phases, the next stepis thumbnail sketches, so called because they are

done about the size and shape of those 1950s-stylespatulate-type thumbnails that Jack Kirby alwaysdrew on Sergeant Fury. Thumbnails, leading to largerroughs and "comps" (the almost-finished sketches theclient will see), are an important step in logo designbecause concepts can magically emerge as we sketch.

D)

HOW TO DESIGN A LOGO IN 3 QUASI-EASY STEPS

/&***. /, «i* '

RLG &Here are more Cooper monogram sketches. Designingmonograms became one of his hobbies, something he

;e to friends like Marione R. Derrickson, above.

The very name "Rube Goldberg" has become synonymouswith any contrivance that brings about by complicatedmeans what could have been accomplished simply. Leftthe "Goldberg Variations," as I like to call Cooper's pageof roughs for the legendary cartoonist, may seemGoldbergian as they inexorably wend their way to a fin-ished design that is a caricature and monogram in one.