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

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Logo Notions:Inspirations, early designs, and the test of time

June 2005

By Jeff Fisher, Engineer of Creative Identity, Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

In initiating this series I took time to sort through box after box of old projects in my basement and look back on nearly thirty years of income producing design. While in high school and college I did get paid for art, illustration and design work. However, I don’t think I would have considered myself a professional until I was literally working as the graphic designer for the advertising department of my college’s daily newspaper in the late 1970’s.

From as early as grade school I was interested in art and design. As a junior high school entrepreneur I created ink line drawings of historic structures in my hometown as gifts for family friends and to sell at the annual local art fair. The drawings were printed on note cards and marketed, in packets of ten, at local gift shops and galleries under the name “Salem Scenes.” With the first packaging project of a 15-year-old boy came the creation of my first logo. Although the name reads more as “Scenes Salem” due to the text treatment, I do see early hints of the pleasure I still get today from combining letterforms and graphic elements in a somewhat clever manner to produce the identity for a business. My earliest logo effort combined an illustration executed with a rapidiograph pen and very rough letters made from x-acto knife cut graphic border tape.

As I moved into high school work on the student newspaper, and independent study in art classes, I learned that “commercial art” was a potentially viable field of endeavor. While a senior in high school, at the Salem Public Library , I came across the book Graphic Design by Milton Glaser. Glaser’s fun illustrations, lettering styles, publication designs and logo for the Russian Tea Room captivated me and gave a name to what I now wanted to be when I grew up. The humor and playfulness in his work seemed to tie into my own personality.

Learning more about the work of Milton Glaser introduced me to Pushpin Studios and the logo images of his business partner Seymour Chwast. I soon learned that even as a high school kid I could get a free subscription to a design industry publication called “U&lc” (now online) which featured the work of Glaser, Chwast and some many other designers I would come to admire and idolize. With each issues my eyes were opened to the work of U&lc editor/designer Herb Lubalin, Saul Bass, Lou Dorfsman, Mo Lebowitz and so many more incredible designers, artists and typographers. Additional information and examples of the work of many of these designers can be found on the AIGA site in the section on AIGA Medalists. Soaking up everything in the publication, I learned to look at design, typography, packaging, signage, logos, art and culture with a different eye. The recent book U&lc: Influencing Design and Typography edited by John D. Berry, brought back many memories of the excitement I would experience in receiving the tabloid in the mail when little about graphic design was being taught in my high school.

Off to college I went and, while learning the basic principles of design in class, a great deal of time was spent in the art library learning about the design work of individuals such as Paul Rand, Ivan Chermayeff & Tom Geismar, Walter Landor, Primo Angeli and other industry leaders. My schooling took a bit of a detour from the Fine Arts department to the advertising and publication courses of the Journalism School. From my professor Roy Paul Nelson, who wrote the books The Design of Advertising and Publication Design, I learned a great deal about the principles of design and typography.

Much of my new knowledge was put to the test as the ad designer for the daily school newspaper. I didn’t get a great deal of exposure to logo design but I did get to create a few less than stellar, quick and dirty, identities for local businesses – mostly hand drawn and using hand-lettering. Still, I was getting hooked on this design thing. In my first logo design competition, for the University’s Chinese Student Association, my logo design - consisting of C,S and A letterforms creating a stylized dragon – was proclaimed the winner. Soon afterwards I got my first logo design commission when I was asked to design a new logo for the Eugene/University Music Association. In those early creations – all done with ink on illustration board - I was already establishing something of a style and exhibiting that I might actually be learning something from my studies and personal research.

Once I completed school, and moved on to Portland in 1980, I continued my self-education when it came to logo design. I began my collection of identity and logo design books for inspiration and individual study. I able to afford subscriptions at the time but the local library provided a resource for reading Communication Arts, Print and other industry magazines for continuing education and examples of great logo work. A few logo projects did come my way as I began my career as an independent designer. When starting any identity design effort, four major pieces of advice from college always stuck in my mind:

• The old K.I.S.S. principle of “Keep It Simple, Stupid.”

• Make sure that sucker works well in black and white before even considering colors.

• Design the image to clearly convey the desired message in all sizes.

• When designing the graphic, give serious consideration to all possible uses of the logo by the client, from print to embroidery to signage.

In digging through boxes and files of old projects I did find most of my first professional logo designs. Although the images are nearly 25 years old, or older, they do seem to still work as well today as when they were originally introduced. Some do exhibit the telltale signs of the boldness and geometric shapes used in many identities of the 1970’s and 1980’s. Unfortunately, the logos are no longer used to represent the entities in question or the companies represented are no longer in business.

The image of a bottle of India ink within a circle was my first attempt at a logo for myself in 1979. I decided to use the business name artworks, ink to represent my design and fine art work. The top portion of the graphic also formed the letter “A.” I used the image, rubberstamped on all my business materials for a couple of years before I was encouraged to introduce my design work with my given name. My logo for the accounting firm Kohnen Larson was one of my first paid logo design projects after college. The abstract “K” and “L” served the firm well for many years. The assignment from the owner of Al Bauer Advertising was to also design an abstract image to represent his firm. In fact, at one time he considered using one of his daughter’s modern paintings as the image for his firm. When shown the design he ended up selecting he said it was “perfect” and represented the fact that in advertising “everything is all neat and orderly, and then something goes out of whack.” Two weeks later Bauer called to say he had just realized the logo was actually abstract lower case “a” and “b” letterforms. The successful design was blind embossed on all stationery items for the company. The design for the Robinwood Shopping Center, consisting of a tree image created from flying birds, identified the mall in signage and advertising for many years.

The logo for the Unity National Insurance Company was meant to convey a solid image for a new division of an existing insurance client’s business. The interlocking shapes were usually only seen as a “U” and a “N” after a second look by the viewer. Being commissioned to create a logo for the La Patisserie initiated an on-going interest in identity design for restaurants and the hospitality industry. One of the first espresso cafes in Portland, La Patisserie was recognizable by its unique logo design until it closed in 2002 after 20 years in operation. The Tel-Med icon, consisting of a stylized human form and telephone keypad, represented the local medical information hotline for a number of years. I was always told that the simplicity of the design gave it the longevity. Combined “S” and “N” letterforms created the logo for Samuels & Nudelman Public Relations. The logo provided the firm a strong, bold identity as it entered the local market.

It was interesting for me to revisit these designs, in some cases over 25 years after their creation, and examine the strength of some of my early design efforts. Using hand-drawn imagery, pressure-sensitive type, adhesive-backed art films, and typography produced by a typesetter, I got a good start to what would become my passion in this industry. It would be over 10 years before the first computer, a Macintosh IIsi, appeared on my desk. By that time I had been working as a designer for nearly 13 years. In 1995 I would make the decision to concentrate on logo design.

A variety of logo designers have continued to inspire me over the last 25 years. David Lance Goines’ poster and logo designs have always fascinated me. The work of Michael Schwab has always forced me to push myself a bit harder in my own efforts. The elegant designs of Louise Fili should inspire all designers. I am always inspired by the work of the Willoughby Design Group, Sayles Graphic Design, Hornall Anderson Design Works, Sandstrom Design – Steve was employed as the editorial cartoonist at the student newspaper at the same time I was on the staff back in college – and so many more. I hope to bring you examples of their work, and their perspectives on identity design, in future Logo Notions columns.

This was the initial Logo Notions column on the site Creative Latitude. Check out additional articles on the topic of identity design at Logo Notions.

© 2007 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

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