Toot! Toot!*:
StartupNation names Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
one of nation's top 100 home-based businesses

Jeff Fisher LogoMotives, has been recognized by StartupNation as one of the nation's top businesses in its annual Home-Based 100 competition in the category of Most Slacker-Friendly. Jeff Fisher, the Engineer of Creative Identity for the Portland-based firm, is known for operating his company from wherever he and his PowerBook may be - foreign countries, tropical beaches, hotels in various cities, airports, coffee shops, his garden and other locales. The design business, specializing in identity design and branding, is currently celebrating 30 years in operation.

Many of the StartupNation Home-Based 100 submissions revealed that business owners are bucking the current economic downturn and finding business success in these tight times. Historically, Fisher's business has been at its best when the economy is at its worst, as new businesses are launched, existing companies jumpstart marketing efforts, and individuals concerned about possible job losses initiate future plans.

“The 2008 ranking shows that the home-based business is more relevant than ever. The current recession has spurred a new wave of home based businesses as a response to loss of jobs, the need for supplemental income and the sheer passion for blazing your own trail and running your own show,” said Rich Sloan, co-founder of StartupNation.com, one of the leading small business networking and advice websites. “Home based businesses are the biggest block of all businesses in existence and we expect numbers to grow ever greater as extra bedrooms, kitchen tables, basements and garages become host to the innovative thinking and pursuit of success by millions of Americans.”

The StartupNation Home-Based 100 highlights 10 top-ten lists making it not just your ordinary business ranking. From the wackiest, to the most innovative, to the best financial performers – this unique and diverse list highlights the home-based businesses that usually go unrecognized, but still play a vital role in the economy today.

In addition to StartupNation staff, judges for this year’s Home Based 100 ranking included Adam Lowry, co-founder of Method Products, Howard Behar, former President of Starbucks North America, John Jantsch, founder of Duct Tape Marketing, Mel Robbins, host of Make It Happen radio show. The competition was sponsored by Microsoft Office Live Small Business and FedEx Office.

Designer Jeff Fisher is the author of Identity Crisis: 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities into Successful Brands (HOW Books, 2007). He has received nearly 600 regional, national and international graphic design awards for his logo and corporate identity efforts and his work is featured in over 100 books on the design of logos, the business of graphic design, and small business marketing. Fisher is a member of the HOW Design Conference Advisory Council and the UCDA Designer Magazine Editorial Advisory Board, and served on the HOW Magazine Editorial Advisory Board. His first HOW Books offering, The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success, appeared on bookstore shelves in late 2004. Fisher is currently writing a book about typography in identity design.

(* If I don’t "toot!" my own horn, no one else will.)

© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Toot! Toot!*: Jeff Fisher LogoMotives designs featured in "100's Visual Logos and Letterheads"

More than two dozen logo designs by Jeff Fisher, the Engineer of Creative Identity for the Portland- based firm Jeff Fisher LogoMotives, are showcased in the newly released book 100's Visual Logos & Letterheads. The volume, written by Matthew Woolman, is published by Angela Patchell Books. The book features hundreds of the most creative and inspiring logos and letterheads from well-known international designers, design agencies and graphic artists.

The business, organization and event identities featured in the book - from Jeff Fisher LogoMotives - are (shown above):

Good Pig, Bad Pig - Portland, OR (illustration by client Brett Bigham) • Just Out Newsmagazine - Portland, OR • Black Dog Furniture Design - Portland, OR (illustration by Brett Bigham) * Thomas Fallon Architect - Portland, OR • Our House of Portland - Portland, OR • Balaboosta - Portland, OR • North Bank Cafe - Portland, OR • Native Youth Internship Program - Holland + Knight Charitable Foundation, Inc. - Portland, OR/Tampa, FL • TraveLady Media - Wilsonville, OR • Emerge Medical Spa at Bridgeport - Tigard, OR • AFriend - Portland, OR • VanderVeer Center - Portland, OR • Chameleon - Portland, OR • Neighborhood Service Center - City of Portland/Office of Neighborhood Involvement - Portland, OR • North Portland Pride BBQ and Festival - University Park United Methodist Church - Portland, OR • Young Native Writers Essay Contest - Holland + Knight Charitable Foundation, Inc. - Tampa, FL • St. Johns Window Project - Portland, OR • triangle productions! 14th Anniversary - Portland, OR • The Dream State - triangle productions! - Portland, OR • Seacoast AIDS Walk - AIDS Response Seacoast - Portsmouth, NH • Shopping and F***ing - triangle productions! - Portland, OR • Holocaust Remembrance Project - Holland + Knight Charitable Foundation, Inc. - Tampa, FL • Benicia Historical Museum at the Camel Barns - Benicia, CA • Tilikum Center for Retreats & Outdoor Ministries - George Fox University - Newberg, OR • Valles Caldera National Preserve • USDA Forest Service - Jemez Springs, NM • Vista House - Friends of Vista House/Oregon State Parks Trust - Columbia Gorge, OR

Author Matthew Woolman is associate professor and chair of the Graphic Design Program at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he teaches typography and design theory. He has produced eight books, including the best-selling Type in Motion: Innovations in Digital Graphics. His other writings and art/design projects have been published internationally in design journals and books; exhibited internationally; and included in private collections.

Jeff Fisher is the author of Identity Crisis: 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities into Successful Brands (HOW Books, 2007). He has received nearly 600 regional, national and international graphic design awards for his logo and corporate identity efforts and his work is featured in over 100 books on the design of logos, the business of graphic design, and small business marketing. Fisher is a member of the HOW Design Conference Advisory Council and the UCDA Designer Magazine Editorial Advisory Board, and served on the HOW Magazine Editorial Advisory Board. His first HOW Books offering, The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success, appeared on bookstore shelves in late 2004. Fisher is currently writing a book about typography in identity design.

(* If I don’t "toot!" my own horn, no one else will.)

© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

The logo’s the thing: Identity design takes the stage

In “Hamlet” William Shakespeare made the comment “the play’s the thing.” Unfortunately he did not expand on that thought as far as suggesting how theatre companies draw audiences to their venues to see the plays presented.

As a graphic designer I have had many opportunities over the past 30 years to assist performing arts organizations in the marketing and promotion of their efforts by creating logos for companies and theater spaces, identities for shows, posters, season ticket brochures, T-shirts and other marketing pieces. I remember creating a rough, stencil like image for a high school production of Thorton Wilder’s “Our Town” back in the mid-70’s, but I certainly had no premonitions that I would be doing a great deal of such work in the future. In college I designed posters, ads, T-shirts and other graphics for plays, concerts and other art-related associations and events. Later, while living in Seattle, I designed logos, programs, ads and promotion items for the performing arts groups Alice B. Theatre, the Seattle Men’s Chorus, the Evergreen Theater Conservatory and similar companies.

It was also in Seattle that I first became aware of the logo design work being done for local theater by Art Chantry (above). I’d met Chantry, the subject of the book Some People Can’t Surf: The Graphic Design of Art Chantry by Julie Lasky, while he was working at the alternative publication “The Rocket.” His logo creations for local theater companies and plays are what caught my attention the most. The work was stark - almost always just black and white – and had a simplicity that conveyed a great deal about the theatre production company or play being represented. The designs really inspired me to seek out opportunities doing logo design work for similar clients.

In early 1990 I attended the first play of a new Portland theatre company. I’ve got to admit, while looking over the program for the play, my first thought was “these guys could use some help.” Little did I know that I would meet the playwright/director/producer/ticker seller at a party a few weeks later. In that first conversation, Don Horn asked if I’d be interested in meeting with him to discuss some design projects for the theatre. For 16 years I worked with the theatre company, triangle productions!, located in Portland, Oregon. I designed over 100 logos for the company, its venues, shows that have been presented and special promotions. My work for the company has received nearly that number of design awards and many of the logos have been featured in numerous international design books. We have created programs, posters, signage, T-shirts, magnets, beverage cups, a paper doll book and many other unique (and fun) items in an effort to draw audiences to shows over the past decade and a half.

For myself, designing logos for live theatre companies offers me a chance to be at my most creative. With design projects for such a creative clientele there is often a great deal of room to stretch one’s creative muscles. This is not standard or conservative graphic design faire. In designing logos for theatrical productions a designer can often go over the top in the creation of attention-getting images. There is an incredible opportunity to play with type and color in unrestricted ways. I enjoy working with somewhat unusual color combinations and incorporating type from font houses such as P22, Fonthead Design, House Industries or Veer – type you many not normally see in more corporate or commercial designs. It’s not a question of “pushing the envelope” or working “out of the box” – there is no ‘envelope” or “box.” Within the theatrical graphic imagery a designer has the chance to convey the essence of a play, monologue or musical in a unique and stylized manner.

The subject matter lends itself to blatant graphic interpretations. My own experience has included being able to produce images for productions from Shakespeare to spoofs on the Bard. Topic matter has included AIDS, cannibalism, strippers, sex, country-western music, vaginas, religion, Internet dating, death, unique personal relationships, murder, concentration camps, drag queens, drug use and everything in between. Titles have included “Girls’ Night Out,” “2 Boys in a Bed on an Cold Winter’s Night,” “Dishin’ With Divine,” “The Food Chain,” “Naked Boys Singing” and so many more. (The play “Party!” is a personal favorite. Not only did I design the logo, T-shirts and a program – I actually got to spend the summer of my first mid-life crisis directing the show with seven naked men on stage – including Peter Paige who went on to “Queer as Folk” fame) How could a designer not be inspired to come up with some great logo designs to represent such topics and shows?

Don Horn, of triangle productions!, was an incredible client. Each of the past seasons he has provided me with the scripts of all the plays to be produced that year. After reading the plays, I had a meeting with Don to discuss a possible theme for the year as far as design style or colors to be used in printing the season ticket brochure, posters and programs. He then set me loose to be creative – and left me alone! The “leaving me alone” part was initially a foreign concept to me. Never before had I worked with a client who gave me free reign of the process. I never had Horn reject a logo I created for one of his shows. It was a very strange and wonderful client relationship over the years – and I truly value this particular client as a friend.

Judith Mayer, of Keyword Design, also appreciates the opportunity to collaborate with other creatives in a design relationship much different than most corporate clients.

“(Theatre clients) are sometimes more willing to go for a daring or whimsical design solution,” according to Mayer. “The fact that a show is a short term event gives them a little more freedom than if it were a logo that a business wants to last 20 years.”

Mayer enjoys the challenge of telling a story, or conveying a mood, through simple striking graphics. She designs for the Towle Community Theater, in Hammond, Indiana, which presents several shows each season that are not considered standards or classics. Mayer’s challenge is to make the public understand what kind of a show it is – even if they have never before heard the title. The examples below were all designed by Mayer for the Towle Community Theater:

“To create a logo that sums up the story means a lot of image editing - getting down to the strongest symbols or characters,” says Mayer. “In using only the key things that define the story, I try to say a lot using very little.”

As in many of my own theater design experiences, Mayer finds that when a season is promoted all at once the logos for four or five shows need to complement each other and at the same time show a range. She feels the logos must share similar characteristics in order to look like a complete set and must have differences to show whether it is a comedy, drama, classic or cutting edge theatre.

Mayer sits down with the director and has him tell her the story and asks him to list the important characters, props, locations, costume elements, scenery and songs if any.

“I may also ask him to define the look and feel of the production so that I have a pool of potential graphics to choose from,” Mayer adds. “Having him tell me the story takes into account the differences this production may have from another theater’s production of the same play.”

“Total creative freedom.”

That is what designer Jim Charlier, of JCharlier Communication Design, gets out working with those in the theatre arts. He created the series of logos below for the Niagara University Department of Theatre and Fine Arts’ current season of plays. The initial project was to create a 16-page season program booklet.

Charlier is fortunate to enough to have access to a wealth of imagery from The Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University for use in the season program. The permanent collection consists of contemporary prints, photographs, paintings, drawings and sculpture by artists such as Picasso, Basquiat, Modigliani, Dali, Motherwell, DeKooning, Nevelson, Rothenberg, Haring, Rauschenberg and many more.

“Because rights and permissions to use the artworks are either costly (for advertising purposes), or take time to acquire, I am the one that suggested creating a logo for each play, not only to individualize the play, but to also be practical for other advertising needs such as black and white print ads.” says Charlier.

“I created the series using one typeface (P22 Garamouche) to give them consistency for the season. Many of these logos were my first and only attempts. Nary a change was made by the client — they are smart, have good taste and are appreciative of professional-quality work,” Charlier remarks.

Charlier comments that such projects offer him the only total creative freedom he gets in designing logos - unless designing for himself which he finds can be much “tougher.” He finds that most clients add complexity to either the process or the final design in the creation of logos.

“Designers always want to simplify,” Charlier adds. “Working on the theatre projects is a breath of fresh air and I get to make them as simple as I want them to be.”

In Charlier’s situation many productions are already known commodities, such as Chicago and Gypsy. He doesn’t find there is much “heavy lifting” to get the gist of the play across to the potential audience. His logos take graphic cues directly from the storyline or theme of the play - whether comedy, drama or musical.

The One Act Plays image (above) represents a series of plays written by different students presented in one production. Charlier felt that since the productions are not well known a type treatment seemed logically generic as a graphic solution. Often such treatments project a striking image for a play with simplicity and elegance.

“I added self-imposed constraints - to use one typeface, few or one color (because of the B&W print ads) and simple,” says the designer. “The logos couldn't compete with the Picasso or Miro used on the same page in this particular season program.”

“A synopsis of the play works best for me (in getting inspiration) – it’s like speed reading to get the gist of the production,” Charlier concludes. “That's what the logo has to do - be read quickly to convey the strong graphic “gist” of the show.”

Note: This article appeared in its original format in the Logo Notions section at CreativeLatitude.com.

© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Toot! Toot!: Designer/author Jeff Fisher interviewed for Inside Digital Design radio program

Jeff Fisher, the Engineer of Creative Identity for the Portland- based firm Jeff Fisher LogoMotives was recently interviewed for the design industry radio program Inside Digital Design. The primary focus of the broadcast and podcast, conducted by hosts hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable, was Fisher's latest book Identity Crisis: 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities into Successful Brands. - which was released one year ago.

The Inside Digital Design show airs weekly in key U.S. national markets and is then made available to a global audience, on the program's website and as a podcast via Apple’s iTunes.

Inside Digital Design Radio & TV is a weekly broadcast program providing news, information, product reviews, and in-depth interviews for today’s creative professional. Covering the latest digital design tools, tips and techniques, insights from industry icons and designers, anecdotes from the history of design, and a good dose of creative inspiration, the original content is distributed and produced by Inside Media Networks.

Jeff Fisher has received nearly 600 regional, national and international graphic design awards for his logo and corporate identity efforts. His work is featured in over 100 books on the design of logos, the business of graphic design, and small business marketing. He is a member of the HOW Design Conference Advisory Council and the UCDA Designer Magazine Editorial Advisory Board, and served on the HOW Magazine Editorial Advisory Board. His first HOW Books offering, The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success, appeared on bookstore shelves in late 2004. Fisher is currently writing a book about typography in identity design.

(* If I don’t "toot!" my own horn, no one else will.)

© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives