Category: Illustration

So, at the request of Steve Garwood, a famous and resourceful New Jersey Librarian, I decided to rework the eighties-era Library Logo. I felt the same way as Steve: The Library logo below is something I align with, philosophically, in that when I see it, I love it. I’d like to get a tattoo of it. I think of it as an extension of who I am. At the same time, I wish it was more contemporary in nature, reflecting some of the curvature and relaxation of iconography of the 21st century. In order to keep the general look and feel of the logo, I used the original logo as a starting point, and simply moved elements to shape the new logo. The color is the same. The major difference between the two is a difference I see every time I walk into a library today: a more prominent presence of laptops. When I think about the key ways that libraries have changed, and how they continue to change, I think about the way that the libraries I love most are less about books and more about learning, community, service and sharing. Very often, technology is employed to that end in libraries. Here is the original logo for comparison, after an insightful brief history.

“The image debuted in its official capacity in the 1982 ALA publication, A Sign System for Libraries, by DeVore and Mary S. Mallery, and was the cover story of the September 1982 issue of ALA’s member magazine, American Libraries. DeVore’s original design scheme for the image (similar to the image shown below) was an opaque white silhouette against a blue (specifically, PMS #285 blue) background.” ~ National Library Symbol History & Implications | Walking Paper – http://goo.gl/d6mQiL

I wanted to mention and thank both Steve Garwood, who inspired the rework, and Jane Ferrick, who gave good insights about my figure’s original posture, and the specific appearance of the laptop, both improved. To be honest, before Jane’s suggestions, my figure was practically laying down and using an ultrathin laptop, which appeared as other things. There is also an interesting echo in the laptop of the book in the original symbol.

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