St. Johns banners finally see the light of day

I've always enjoyed creating designs for businesses, nonprofit organizations and events in my own North Portland neighborhood. Back in early 2002 I designed a series of banners for the volunteer organization Destination St. Johns. The banners were to be displayed on utility poles in the business district of St. Johns, less than a five minute drive from my home studio.

And then nothing happened with the designs and the banners never appeared in public.

In an October 2009 article in the late, great neighborhood newspaper The Sentinel (a past identity design client of mine), Meg Farra, one of the founders of Destination St. Johns, explained, “It was a group we put together to do some projects within St. Johns. For example, we planted native plants in the tree wells through downtown and organized some cleanups before the parade for a few years."

As reported in The Sentinel, "The group decided to create banners for downtown and applied for a grant from the North Portland Trust Fund [the Portland International Raceway noise mitigation funded.] They received $4000 along with support and in-kind donations from many businesses and other groups in St. Johns and North Portland."

I didn't realize that the banners had ever been produced - but instead of adding high-flying color over downtown St. Johns, the banners and all hardware were stored in the basement of the historic Kenton Firehouse.

According to The Sentinel: "...the set of 20 or so vinyl banners were never hung due to political squabbling and the high cost of insurance."

"When the banners were ready to hang, bureaucratic difficulties and a policy change at Portland General Electric entered the game. Partway through negotiations about the banners, PGE changed its insurance requirements. Instead of $1 million, groups now had to carry $2 million in insurance before PGE would allow them to use its poles. PGE also asked Destination St. Johns to coordinate with the St. Johns Boosters, who had a long-standing arrangement with PGE to use certain light poles at Christmastime. A rift developed between some of the leaders involved and for over a year the groups were unable to negotiate a compromise.

"At that point, according to Tom Griffin-Valade of the Office of Neighborhood Involvement, the banners were rolled up and stored in the basement of the Office of Neighborhood Involvement at the Kenton Firehouse. Seven years passed."

The mystery of the missing banners had always intrigued Sentinel publisher Cornelius Swart. With a little detective work, he learned that the banners were in the Kenton Firehouse all along. Swart presented the banners to members of the St. Johns Neighborhood Association in May 2009. At the time of the October 2009 Sentinel article, efforts to hang the banners were being driven by members of the St. Johns Boosters and the St Johns Main Street Coalition, which have representatives from both neighborhood associations, businesses, and individual residents.

I'm not sure what transpired over the past year in regards to insurance issues and neighborhood politics. However, My partner Ed and I recently decided to make a Saturday morning visit to the St. Johns Farmer's Market - and were very surprised to see the banners lining the streets and the farmer's market venue, St. Johns Plaza.

On a recent sunny afternoon, I went to St. Johns to photograph the banners in place (above). I popped into St. Johns Booksellers, the location of my 2007 book signing for Identity Crisis!, to say "hi" to co-owner Nena Rawdah and explain why I was wandering the business district with my camera. She told me that upon learning that the banners were actually going to be installed, she requested a red and yellow one for installation in front of her store (above center).

"I didn't know who was responsible for the design of the banners," added Nena, "but, I'm certainly not surprised."

© 2010 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives.

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'Trademark Power' book, published in 1916, offers identity advice to designers and business owners

Recently, I took another look at a fantastic gift I received from Liz and Nena, the co-owners of St. Johns Booksellers and hosts of the 2007 Portland book-signing for the release of my book Identity Crisis! Their store sells new and used books - and they are always having a wide variety of books - from estates, house cleanings and other sources - being added to their inventory.

Among books coming into the establishment was a copy of the 1916 book Trademark Power: An Expedition into an Unprobed and Inviting Wilderness by Glen Buck. The volume, published 94 years ago by Munroe & Southworth in Chicago, even contained its original sales sheet of promotional blurbs (below left); with the notice that the volume was "Not for sale at book stores. One dollar a copy." The shop owners both immediately felt the book would be the perfect gift for me.

Considering the age of the book, it is incredible to see so many recognizable brands and identities. Of course, some have suffered their own identity crises and evolved over time. Still, Heinz, Western Union, Nabisco, Sherwin Williams, Dutch Cleanser, Yale Locks, RCA, Paramount Pictures, Dutch Boy Paints, Lysol, Log Cabin Syrup, Firestone Tires, Eagle Brand, and many other identities appear throughout Trademark Power (one page of examples is displayed below right). There are also many logo examples for firms that have disappeared over the past century.

Chapter 32 of the book covers what constitutes a good trademark - and things to be avoided when designing the identity to be trademarked. The author's list of things which may be avoided is as follows:

First - Common and familiar forms do usually make good trademarks, for they lack distinction. The circle, the square, the crescent, the star, the diamond. the heart, the oval, the shield, the cross, all have long ago been usurped and are burdened with significances.

Second - If one is anxious to aquire legal title to a trademark her will not have it resemble any other trademark, nor will he put in it any descriptive phrase or name.

Third - Flags and emblems of all nations, the established devices of societies, associations and institutions should be avoided as not legally usable or protectible.

Fourth - Complicated and confused pictures or devices do not make good trademarks, because they cannot be seen and comprehended at a glance. As they lack simplicity they lack strength.

Fifth - A good trademark will not depend upon any color arrangement for its effect, at it will undoubtedly be necessary to reproduce it in many places where color cannot be used.

Sixth - It is advisable to avoid designs that are higher than they are wide. A "tall" trademark is often difficult to fit into attractive and harmonious layouts.

Seventh - A trademark should be capable of reproduction in all engraving processes, by zincs, half-tones, and the different offset and lithographic methods, that it may be well printed on all kinds of paper and other printable materials.

Eighth - If the trademark is not as simple as it can be made, and carefully proportioned in all its parts, it may be impossible to reduce it to small sizes without losing the design, or to increase it to large sizes without rendering it ugly.

Ninth - Care should be taken to evolve a design that will not print too black or too light, for undoubtedly it will be used with many styles of lettering and kinds of type faces.

Tenth - Designs that have only a temporary significance should be discarded. They may be meaningless, absurd, or quite impossible of use tomorrow.

Eleventh - That which is vulgar, repulsive, or ugly will never make a good trademark. Also one should be extremely cautious in the use of comic motifs.

Twelfth - It will save expense and trouble, and perhaps prevent disappointment, if the work of designing the trademark is put into trained and understanding hands. It is work that can't be hurriedly done in an idle moment by one who has not conception of the importance of the task.

This advice is nearly a century old and, with all the advancements in the design industry and technology over that period of time, it is surprising that most of the recommendations are still very valid for today's identity designers.

In closing his book, author Buck writes:

The new manufacturer who does not bring into being a good trademark at the time his venture is launched, even though it may not at once be conspicuously used, is neglecting a real opportunity to add to his tangible assets.

And the established manufacturer who has not now a good trademark stands in pressing need of one.

The trademark is not a panacea for every business ill. But it is a fundamentally important part of the business equipment that is to serve efficiently in the new order.

Thank you again, Nena and Liz, for the incredible gift of yet another interesting and historical perspective on identity, branding and trademarks. It's a great addition to my personal design library of nearly 400 volumes.

© 2010 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

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