Is There a Designer in the House?

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Lindsay says the old logo was being applied inconsistently and had begun to look dated. It had been in use since 1990, except for a few years when there was an attempt to market the school and the museum as twin aspects of the same institution–Art Institute of Chicago the School, and Art Institute of Chicago the Museum. Unfortunately, Lindsay says, museum officials, content simply to be the Art Institute of Chicago, never bought into the plan, and it had to be abandoned. This time, he says, the school began by hammering out its primary message (a “global vision”) and supporting points with North Charles Street, which then suggested modifications to the old logo. After deciding against that proposal, the school gave TimeZoneOne (subject of a 2004 Reader story) the job of coming up with something totally new. Richard McDonald of TimeZoneOne (which got a toe in the door by doing a pro bono logo for the Gene Siskel Film Center a couple of years ago), says the graphic design work was done in New Zealand, where the U.S. dollar goes about twice as far.

But Ilan Geva, an SAIC instructor and partner in a Chicago branding and marketing firm, Strategy & Beyond, says the message projected by the school is that “they don’t trust their professionals within to do the job.” Geva says he judges competitions all over the world, and this design, “in my opinion, is average at best,” a mere “veneer” that “doesn’t represent who we are.” According to Geva, SAIC sees itself “as the premier art and design school; they claim among their faculty they have some of the best in that field. Then how come they don’t trust it as a project among the students, with the guidance of the faculty? Or do it internally as a project of the faculty at least witnessed by the students?” Geva, who says he teaches as a way of giving back, sees this as a lost opportunity for the school. As it is, he adds, “It will be the equivalent of Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, ordering his own shoes from Adidas.”

Miscellany