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The worlds best logo designers?

Posted on April 30, 2007 This blog has quite an emphasis on logo design, so Ive put together a little background on some of the most notable graphic designers in history. Following are iconic names such as Saul Bass, Bob Gill and Herb Lubalin, and Ive shown some examples of their logo design work along with a brief biographical background. It must be noted that these people are known for many disciplines other than simply logo design.

Herb Lubalin
Born 1918. Died 1981.

Herbs Families logo was designed in 1980 and the Marriage logo in 1965 (both above). Read more about Herb Lubalin here.

Paul Rand
Born 1914, New York, USA. Died 1996.

Rand is responsible for the ABC logo (American Broadcasting Company) from 1962 and the IBM logo (both above).

Read more about Paul Rand here.

Milton Glaser
Born 1929, New York, USA.

Since founding Milton Glaser, Inc. in 1974, the work produced at his manhattan studio has encompassed a wide range of design disciplines, including identity programs for corporate and institutional marketing purposes and logos (among them the I love New York logo below for the New York state department of commerce, that became the most frequently imitated logo design in human history).

View more of Milton Glasers identity projects here. Read more about Milton Glaser here.

Saul Bass
Born 1920, New York, USA. Died 1996.

Saul Basss long and prolific career has influenced legions of designers. Bass studied at the Art Students League with Howard Trafton and at Brooklyn College with Gyorgy Kepes. After working in New York for a number of years, he moved to Los Angeles and founded Saul Bass & Associates in 1946.

Bass was a design innovator, in the corporate world with logos for AT&T and United Airlines (both above) and working with directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese and Otto Preminger. Read more about Saul Bass here.

Walter Landor
Born 1913, Munich, Germany. Died 1995.

What is probably Landors most famous logo is that of Fedex (shown above). The negative space arrow has been well documented. The peoplepc logo (also above) is another that I enjoy. However, today Landor Associates dont always get it right, such as their awful attempt at Italys national logo. Visit the Landor website here.

Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar

Chermayeff born Chechen Republic, 1990. Died 1996. Geismar born New Jersey, date TBA.

Design is directed toward human beings. To design is to solve human problems by identifying them and executing the best solution. Ivan Chermayeff

Chermayeff and Geismar designed the famous Mobil logo (shown above) and developed a complete corporate identification program with continuing consultation for 35 years. The program was built around the logo, a specially designed alphabet, a clear policy for colour, and a comprehensive design approach that integrated new graphics with new architecture. It included design of product packaging, vehicle markings, print material, posters and all design, packaging and sign standards for facilities throughout the world. Read more about Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar here.

Bob Gill
Born 1931, New York, USA.

In 1962, Gill, Alan Fletcher and Colin Forbes established Fletcher / Forbes / Gill design studio, the forerunner of Pentagram (design studio).

LogoMania, his latest book, sets out to prove that there are unlimited good solutions to any problem. Gill designed thirty two logos for the same client. Graphic Design as a Second Language is a superb book that details Gills design process. Highly recommended. Read more about Bob Gill here.

Wally Olins
Born in London, England.

According to Wikipedia, Wally Olins is generally recognised as the worlds most experienced practitioner of corporate identity and branding.

Wally was awarded a CBE in 1999. He was nominated for the Prince Philip Designers Prize in 1999 and received the Royal Society of Arts Bicentenary Medal for his contribution to the design and marketing industry. Read more about Wally Olins here.

Minale Tattersfield
Founded 1964 by Italian, Marcello Minale and Yorkshireman, Brian Tattersfield. Today there are many partners.

Minale and Tattersfield met while working at the advertising agency Young & Rubicam. Here they gained invaluable experience in broad-based commercialism, marketing and research which, combined with the deeper culture of their training as designers, gave them a tremendous advantage over others in their field when they set up their own practice. You can view some of the Minale Tattersfield agencys work by clicking on the client names below: Harrods corporate identity Eurostar corporate identity Sydney Olympic Bid campaign

Of course this list is by no means exclusive. There are other great logo designers such as Joe Finocchiaro, Alan Fletcher and Michael Wolff that arent detailed. Do you agree with the choices above? Who is your favourite logo designer? Thanks for the previous posts comments: Nate, ilker, Char, Randa, The Paper Bull, Asgeir, Aaron, Ian, Gayla, Wendy, Charity, Evel, Maki, Sean, la bloga, Dawud, Andy Beard, goldcoaster, Armen, Rob, Tara, Vivienne, Ahsan, Brett, Dootz, Calvin, Andy and Deborah. Digg This! Stumble It! Save to del.icio.us (6 saves, tagged: design logo) Subscribe to this feed Related articles Wikipedia link to my logo designer article London 2012 olympic logo disaster When do you consider you are a successful designer? Logo design sketches that dont work Is this a good logo? Heres the re-design you asked for, any better?

Comments
36 very welcomed comments to The worlds best logo designers? 1 . webee on April 30th, 2007 10:32 am

hi david, i totally agree that those mentioned above are ones of the best logo designers. im just wondering if you have considered Dennis Hwang into the list. he is the designer that takes care of googles logo :). webee [is a design blog] 2 . Tolumi Adamson on April 30th, 2007 10:33 am

I really like the peoplepc and families logos. The peoplepc with the smiley face and families with the well family representation (Dad, mum and kid). Hope I made sense 3 . David Airey :: Creative Design :: on April 30th, 2007 10:40 am

webee, I know of Dennis Hwang, but consider him an illustrator rather than a logo designer. After all, the Google logo was designed by Ruth Kedar. Tolumi, Those two you mention are great in my opinion. Im not so keen on the Orange logo that I included. Its more an example of effective branding than logo design. 4 . Randa Clay on April 30th, 2007 11:21 am

Thanks for this post David - I Dugg it! Heres how lame I am: I never noticed the arrow in the FedEx logo until just recently when it was pointed out to me. Im in the middle of a logo design now, so looking at the greats is always helpful. 5 . Asgeir Hoem on April 30th, 2007 11:46 am

Randa, Neither did I, embarrassingly enough. Saw it mentioned randomly on some blog the other day, and thought shit, thats clever. Interesting post, David! 6 . minxlj on April 30th, 2007 12:37 pm Lubalin and Olins have always been my faves. Definitely no arguing with them being in the list! Not sure I agree that Chermayeff & Geismar are among the worlds best, although theyre certainly good. Id like to see Paula Scher and Michael Bierut on the list - some great identities especially in the last couple of years. One of my Paula favourites is this: http://tinyurl.com/322a9z and I love the Saks redesign by Michael: http://tinyurl.com/2p7n8b 7 . lee newham on April 30th, 2007 12:47 pm No, I dont think these are the best logo designers at all. Besides most of them arent really designers, they are art directors. Bob Gill is one of my design heros but I dont hink he was that great at logo design. Saul Bass created incredible title sequences for film but his logos were never that great. Walter Landor didnt

design Fed Ex, his company did (and thats about the best thing they have done!). Herb Lublins work is probably the strongest of all the logos shown here. I think lists of greatest designers are pointless. Its good to get the best work exposed to those who havent seen them but there are a lot of people missing from this list. Id include Minale Tattersfield in the list along with The Partners, Robert Brownjohn Lewis Moberly, Michael Peters, Carrol Dempsey and Thirkell andwell, there are many others. 8 . David Airey :: Creative Design :: on April 30th, 2007 1:29 pm

Randa, Thanks for the Digg. Its worth taking my choices with a pinch of salt, instead judging for yourselves. Im still a student where design is concerned. minxlj, Thanks for those links. To be honest though I dont think the Met Opera identity is anything special, and the Saks redesign seems to be a mash-up of their 1973 logo. What appeals to you about them? Lee, Ive added a little mention to Minale Tattersfield, and I enjoyed taking a look at The Partners website. What do you think of their work on the new brand for Liverpool Victoria? 9 . Dawud Miracle on April 30th, 2007 1:43 pm

I cant believe Ive actually heard of Saul Bass and Paul Rand. But I guess when I look at their work its some of the most seen logos in the states today. Somewhere I had to read something about them - just cant place it. Ive played with logo design a bit myself. I find it to be really difficult. But when its done well, it can make a huge difference in branding a company. 10 . Chris on April 30th, 2007 2:21 pm

Interesting post David, theres some designs which have really stood the test of time, and its cool to see the people behind them. Congrats on the PR6 as well- wow 11 . Tara on April 30th, 2007 3:12 pm

Hi, An interesting post as usual. I think I might check out the LogoMania book, do you have it? I was just wondering as you write a lot about logos is this your favourite area of design? 12 . Armen on April 30th, 2007 3:13 pm I never noticed the FedEx arrow either BTWwas there a designer assassin going around in 1995-96?? 13 . David Airey :: Creative Design :: on April 30th, 2007 3:17 pm

Dawud, I agree that logo design isnt easy. It takes a lot of research and sketching to arrive at something that works. Chris, Thanks for the congrats one small step for David Airey. Tara, I dont have the Logomania book yet. I do have Graphic Design as a Second Language, which is great. If you buy Logomania do let me know what you think. Logo design is just one aspect of graphic design that I love. Do you have a favourite area? Armen, I think a few of them were quite close. In a pact? 14 . Tara on April 30th, 2007 3:28 pm

Hi David I will check out Graphic Design as a Second Language too. I am a bit addicted to Amazon so have to control myself or I will buy both. My favourite area of design, which I guess is more towards art direction is coming up with ad concepts including headlines. I find conceptual work far more interesting than pure layout. 15 . PG on April 30th, 2007 4:12 pm Great post, David. Its always nice paying homage to the masters. Lubalin is def a

favorite of mine as well. 16 . Charity on April 30th, 2007 5:17 pm

Wow, the arrow totally escaped me. I had to sit looking at it for a minute before light finally dawned! This is a really thought provoking entry when it comes to design and branding. Some of the logos you showed are so ingrained in our generation that we dont even stop to think about them as a process of design or at least I never have. Im not a logo designer though, so maybe its just me. Anyway its nice to see the faces behind these timeless logos. 17 . The Thinking Blog on April 30th, 2007 5:58 pm

I enjoyed reading the post and the comments.. thanks all! 18 . Aaron on April 30th, 2007 6:34 pm

Thanks David, a really interesting post! Im not in a position to agree or disagree with your choices so I bow down to your superior knowledge. Ive never heard of any of those designers that youve listed, but have seen most of the logos before. A couple of years back I did a logo project which looked at the work of Gerard Huerta, which is pretty good stuff. 19 . Ian on April 30th, 2007 6:48 pm

Um, Milton Glaser? Where you at Milty? By the way I forwarded this post off to the boys at work. Great list. 20 . Just Reading. Thermal on April 30th, 2007 8:04 pm

[] its gleaming new page rank of 6 (is there an emoticon for jealousy?) and carries a list of the worlds best logo designers. Interesting stuff about some of the logos you see every day without noticing, and who came up with [] 21 . lee newham on April 30th, 2007 8:33 pm Some more from minale tattersfield:

22 . deelirium on May 1st, 2007 4:36 am

Fantastic blog! Ive stumbled upon a number of your logo-related posts and theyve given me a boost of confidence to continue with a couple logos Im working on this month. Im finding Logo Pond to be not-so-helpful in finding inspiration. As far as the FedEx logo, one of the major people behind it is Lindon Leader (or so Google tells me). Read more about him here: http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000273.php 23 . David Airey :: Creative Design :: on May 1st, 2007 9:27 am

Ian, Good suggestion, if only for Miltons I love New York logo. Ive added him to the list. deelirium, Thats a nice read you linked to. Cheers for stopping by and for your kind words. LogoPond is very hit and miss. There have been a few great logos there but the majority are quite poor. 24 . Lorissa on May 1st, 2007 10:22 am

Great list. Im a huge Olins fan myself. 25 . Jonathan Hughes on May 1st, 2007 6:15 pm According to this site: http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000273.php Lindon Leader designed the FedEx logo, not Walter Landor. Anyone know what the story is? 26 . Dave Lilly on May 2nd, 2007 2:14 am weeeeell. Milton, Im not TOO impressed with. I wasnt SUPER impressed with Bob Gill either, thought his book Forget All the Rules About Graphic Design: Including the Ones in This Book is SWEET!!!!! Bass logos are solid as are Landons. I love logos where there are things hidden! SO COOL!!

27 . minxlj on May 2nd, 2007 9:07 am Im a little bit shocked that some people here have never heard of these designers???? It doesnt matter what career youre in, you should always be aware of the leaders in the field - not just who is fashionable at the moment. Thanks for those links. To be honest though I dont think the Met Opera identity is anything special, and the Saks redesign seems to be a mash-up of their 1973 logo. What appeals to you about them? The Saks design is an appreciative nod back to the 1973 design - the most classy of all the logos Saks have had, and Pentagrams application of this has embodied what Saks is all about. I mean, Tiffany & Cos logo isnt the most groundbreaking thing ever designed, BUT it is impeccably styled, classic, beautiful typography, which tells you immediately how upmarket the company is. With all the shiny, reflective, modern logos of Web 2.0 kicking about - and dont get me wrong, some are brilliant - the beautiful, artful typographic logo stands out, such as the Metropolitan Opera logo. Its simple, classy, elegant, and with a bit of clever association about it (obviously nicknamed The Met). In 50 years time it will still look classy - logos dont have to be complicated to work well. 28 . David Airey :: Creative Design :: on May 2nd, 2007 9:54 am

Jonathan, The Fedex logo was created by Lindon Leader when he worked for Landor Associates. Lindon now heads up Leader Creative. minxlj, I completely agree that logos dont have to be complicated to work well. More often than not its the simple logos that stand the test of time. 29 . Tony MacFarlanes Design Blog Blog Archive NewsLinks Wednesday, May 2 2007 on May 2nd, 2007 3:33 pm [] Im Somewhere Near the Back [] 30 . Ian on May 2nd, 2007 7:46 pm

While its true that logos dont have to be complicated to work I would even say they cant be complicated and work they usually have to be complicated to sell. 31 . Michael on May 19th, 2007 4:57 pm

You need to be careful about some of this - the Fedex logo was indeed created by Lindon Leader (at Landor) a year after Landor hiumself died. Wally Olins, whilst he was at Wolff Olins at the time, didnt work on the orange account, and is himself a brand consultant not a designer. 32 . David Airey :: Creative Design :: on May 21st, 2007 9:58 pm

Michael, Thanks for the clarification. I shouldve put some more indepth research into the post before publishing, but such is the way with some blog posts. 33 . G3 Creative Scotland on May 25th, 2007 8:22 am We enjoyed looking over the list of well known logo designers/branding experts and thank you for the emails. Good corporate identities should not only raise the visibility of a company but add the professional look to the business which is something the chaps above have achieved. I should say that most of the guys here a big Wally Olins fans. 34 . lee newham on June 4th, 2007 5:27 pm Wally Olins has nothign to do with Wolf Olins anymore in case anyone posts something about him in connection with the London Olympics logo 2112 which was designed by Wolf Olins. Wally works for a company called Saffron now. 35 . David Airey :: Creative Design :: on June 14th, 2007 9:15 am

Lee, Thanks for the confirmation about Wally Olins. Itd be sad to think of him as being associated with the 2012 olympic logo. 36 . Wikipedia link to my logo designer article : David Airey :: Creative Design :: on June 14th, 2007 10:19 am

[] article shown on Wikipedia is The worlds best logo designers? and given the fact that there are only five other external links from Wikipedias logo page []

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