My design career began in the photo-lettering department of a type shop in 1970. My design education consisted of my obsessive study of design annuals. So my most significant influences were the great corporate designers of the day: Lou Dorfsman, Tom Geismar, and Herb Lubalin topped the list; and great lettering artists Ed Benguiat, Tom Carnase, Tony diSpigna and Gerard Huerta inspired me as well.
Although the poetic conciseness of symbolic, abstract and pictorial logos held great appeal for me, my focus was already trained on words and letterforms. While a great graphic image can leave a strong impression, it may only lead the consumer in a general direction, rather than to a specific company. Obviously, this is much less likely to be the case when the name or initials of the company are an integral part of the design. It is my belief that a visual image closely intertwined with a name creates the most memorable logo. Most of my logos bear out that philosophy.
The logos from the gallery are from among the hundreds I have designed; the oldest one in this group was designed in 1972, the newest, this year.
My criteria for logos are as follows. They must be:
They must embody and convey a feeling that represents the nature of the industry at large. Logos for a ballet company, a bank, and a produce distributor should look dramatically different.
They must distinguish and separate the individual company from the competition. An appropriate look that does not draw attention to the unique qualities of the business it represents only serves to support the industry as a whole, and will most likely draw business toward the leader in the field.
In general, pleasing aesthetics serve any business well. However, the qualities that attract the target consumer may not always overlap with conventional standards of attractiveness, and so “attracting” may occasionally take precedence over “attractive.”
Obviously, if letters and words are involved, the consumer must be able to decipher them. But the same is true for pictorial, symbolic, and abstract images. The image must not only portray what the designer and client intended, but every effort must be made to not convey any unintended ideas as well. A word of caution: the more abstract a logo is, the more it is like a Rorschach test. And it’s very hard to predict what every viewer will see.
A logo must perform with equal strength and effectiveness in each of the numerous places it will be used. It must work on the side of the company truck and the business card. It must retain its integrity in crowded environments of competing graphics and colorful distractions. It must work in one color printing and on low-definition TV screens and computer monitors. These extreme and varied demands usually call for simplicity in design.
My design career began in the photo-lettering department of a type shop in 1970. My design education consisted of my obsessive study of design annuals. So my most significant influences were the great corporate designers of the day: Lou Dorfsman, Tom Geismar, and Herb Lubalin topped the list; and great lettering artists Ed Benguiat, Tom Carnase, Tony diSpigna and Gerard Huerta inspired me as well.
Although the poetic conciseness of symbolic, abstract and pictorial logos held great appeal for me, my focus was already trained on words and letterforms. While a great graphic image can leave a strong impression, it may only lead the consumer in a general direction, rather than to a specific company. Obviously, this is much less likely to be the case when the name or initials of the company are an integral part of the design. It is my belief that a visual image closely intertwined with a name creates the most memorable logo. Most of my logos bear out that philosophy.
The logos from the gallery are from among the hundreds I have designed; the oldest one in this group was designed in 1972, the newest, this year.
My criteria for logos are as follows. They must be:
They must embody and convey a feeling that represents the nature of the industry at large. Logos for a ballet company, a bank, and a produce distributor should look dramatically different.
They must distinguish and separate the individual company from the competition. An appropriate look that does not draw attention to the unique qualities of the business it represents only serves to support the industry as a whole, and will most likely draw business toward the leader in the field.
In general, pleasing aesthetics serve any business well. However, the qualities that attract the target consumer may not always overlap with conventional standards of attractiveness, and so “attracting” may occasionally take precedence over “attractive.”
Obviously, if letters and words are involved, the consumer must be able to decipher them. But the same is true for pictorial, symbolic, and abstract images. The image must not only portray what the designer and client intended, but every effort must be made to not convey any unintended ideas as well. A word of caution: the more abstract a logo is, the more it is like a Rorschach test. And it’s very hard to predict what every viewer will see.
A logo must perform with equal strength and effectiveness in each of the numerous places it will be used. It must work on the side of the company truck and the business card. It must retain its integrity in crowded environments of competing graphics and colorful distractions. It must work in one color printing and on low-definition TV screens and computer monitors. These extreme and varied demands usually call for simplicity in design.
All text and graphics © John Langdon 1996–2024 inclusive.
The ambigrams in Wordplay are protected by the copyright of the book as an entire work.
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