28

IRREVERENTLY RETRO LOGOS

Right, Mercury must have

had better things to do than

to flit around Manhattan

delivering photostats, but

this naïve period image,

accompanied by really nice

lettering, would barely have

raised a snicker in 1945.

OERVICE<5-

Right, some logos try to

seriously achieve a retro

look. This design by the

author for a silk-screen T-

shirt printer mocks the

gravity of much Art Deco

imagery that some 1930s

companies used

in all seriousness.

627 Mt Auburn St Watertown Ma

Above, this gorgeously designed, inked and colored logo by Mark Fisher conjures
up all the alluring nostalgia of an old matchbook cover. Above right, Fisher brings
the naïveté of the 1950s to this logo for Cosmo Icecreamo. But it's too over the
top to be truly of the period and becomes instead a delicious parody. Bless the
client that lets us get away with designing something this much fun.

The logos of Seymour Chwast and his current Pushpin Group associates are
noted for their strong design and gentle humor. In pointing out the references
to the 1920s and 1930s in his work, it should be noted that in the 1960s,
Chwast became one of the first retro revivalists and gets a lot of the credit (or
blame?) for pointing the rest of us in this direction. Above, Solo, designed with
Greg Simpson, for a publishing group; right, Lòrke, a German clothing concern;
below, for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art.

Above, the original logo
for Seymour Chwast and
ton Glasen Push Pin
Studios, с 1959. The
name itself is gently
self-parodying and cer¬
tainly indicative of the
style and attitude that
put this highly influen¬
tial, and trend-setting
studio on the map.

Right, Brave World is a film production company whose
logo giddily parodies old self-important RKO Pictures
movie titles. The brave design—nicely executed!—is by
Dan Ibarra and Jamie Karlin of Planet Propaganda.