For those of you following design, you’ve probably caught wind of the recent revamp of Milton Glaser’s “I Heart New York” logo and the innumerable and boisterous opinions about it shared across the interwebs. Reading all the collective feedback made me think about another historic mark that was recently evolved - and might be equally divisive – the Westinghouse logo.
Disclaimer – I’m a minimalist, type-dominant logo guy at my core. I’m into both simplicity and a clear representation of timelessness. Glaser, Bass, Lublin, and Chermayeff, along with Paul Rand (maybe the GOAT modernist logo designer of all time) are some of my personal “OG” heroes.
Keeping this in mind, I feel that Paula Scher’s (another superhero in design, unquestionably) revival falls short in execution and its ability to push this identity into the current competitive landscape. This feeling made me want to explore alternative ways to pay homage to the original mark and Rand, while taking advantage of the typographic nuances and design tool features that weren’t at his disposal.
So here we go, here’s my go at it:
The second sketch is more typographically accurate of how that letterform would present based on the font family utilized.
The bulbs, stems, and crown base has been adjusted to match the letter thickness.
Also, the descender of the G was feeling a little thin compared to the boldness of the base character "O".
Personally, I believe the subtle variation of the forms makes the mark more balanced and causes your eye to focus less on that modified, uncomfortable “ST” combination. We’d love to hear your thoughts so feel free to post or engage with Larry, or Versed, on social!
