I don’t remember where I first heard of Gerard Huerta, and I don’t know how I came across his Southport studio inside a converted freight station, which is decidedly on the right side of the tracks. But about a month ago, when I casually mentioned to our new editor that a major designer is just a few miles away, the conversation rapidly led to a visit in that very studio. And now we’re working with Mr. Huerta on a very big project.
Mr. Huerta is an iconic logo designer who’s portfolio begins with AC/DC and CBS Records, continues on to various Hollywood projects and the Super Bowl, winds its way around Swiss Army Brands and finds its way at Pepsi, and then Time, Architectural Digest and People. When the Type Directors Club needed a new logo, they went to him. Doesn’t that literally make him a designer’s designer?
Another ponderous question: How happy am I these days?
When I joined the Connecticut Post seven years ago, the logo was simply typeset in Monotype Italian, scaled horizontally 70 percent, and tinted royal blue. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it, but naturally publishers are resistent to tinkering. Later, we were grouped with the Greenwich Time, Stamford Advocate and Danbury News-Times. All three had solid reputations in their community, and exhibited good design. But in consolidating news production to one Bridgeport “universal desk” meant unifying templates. Right now, all the logos were set (by me) in the most straight-forward way possible, in a font that matched the headlines until two weeks ago, and in a tinted box intended to be embellished daily with cutout images from the day’s news. We focused more on our news formats than on the logos, until now.
Click to see how our nameplate has evolved.
We’re refining our look even more, and adopting many of the design conventions of our flagship, the San Francisco Chronicle. Their design is leading us back to somewhat more classical forms. Black lettering, no background, subtle flourishes. The four logos don’t need to match, but they should each relate to Font Bureau’s gorgeous Farnham and Antenna letterforms, set off with Hoeffler’s handsome Archer.
I’d love to show you some early drafts, but I’m going to hold back until we’ve gone farther down the road. Juggling four logos simultaneously is a little tricky. Still, it’s amazing how far we’ve gone since our first meeting with Gerard Huerta only about three weeks ago.
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