Introduction

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A fictional history of logos used in a promotion postcard series for Frederator, a multifaceted communications company.
AdamsMorioka, Inc.

Ten years ago, AdamsMorioka was asked to produce a logo for a major Los Angeles institution. We began the project sketching on a pad and playing with type on the computer. The more time we spent designing logo options, however, the more questions we asked. If the client were to change his business in a year, would the logo need to change? If the logo promised community involvement, would the client deliver? Very quickly we began to understand that making a formally successful logo was important, but making something that communicated as a base for all the client’s endeavors was critical.

A strong logo and subsequent visual system is one of a corporation’s greatest assets. As the international corporate structure has expanded in the past fifty years, so has the need for distinct corporate identification. The world is now filled with every imaginable icon and monogram, as well as all forms of logos. Our task, as designers, is to take the commonplace—letterforms, geometric shapes, and images—and make them distinctive and meaningful. This is a unique time, however, and we are now able to design in ways unimaginable in the past. The breadth of opportunity and the possibilities for the designer’s involvement in multiple media, combined with the strategies of our clients’ business, make the logo more than a nice decoration; it becomes a vital component in a company’s success.