Them, 30 years. Me, 28.

So here we go. Like a few years back (2006...?) I was tasked to design the CityPaper's 30th anniversary logo. Actually it was more like "Won" the chance, because a few people designed logos, and mine won out. But lets not get into all that. As you may have surmised, thats the logo above. Ill give you a moment.


The logo is to be used on four different "Special issues": Dining, Arts , Music, and News issues, to be exact. Each issue will get its own color scheme, as well as a logo specific to topic.


The thing that makes this kinda cool for me, is the fact that five years ago (when I first started) I designed the 25th Anniversary logo as well. The term "Collect 'em All!" resonates deep in this, as any (nerdy?) child of the 80's or early 90's knows in terms of collectable cards and such. I wanted some of the older logo to resonate, thus the stacked "CP30" and the blue coloring stayed. I like to create some kind of lineage in designs that carry over time. It just makes sense, in a branding sense.


Lineage, as I was saying, is important to me. Typing that, here are a collection of "dumped" design ideas. There are many that feature a "No.30", which has a hidden meaning. As wikipedia states "The expression "No 30" at the end of a page (or a transmitted submission) signifies that the story isn't completed, and the recipient is to expect additional material." The higher ups loved this, as it meant the continuation. In these tumultuous times for the printed page, and especially newspaper, I thought it interesting to make this statement with a anniversary logo. The passage of time, and the declaration of contuinuation...yeah. Ultimately, for sake of cleanliness and readability, this idea was also dumped. But it lives on in spirit. I think.


My hectic notes. This whole process was actually somewhat rushed, as one of the Issues to feature the logo was fast approaching deadline, and no-one had thought of the logo. But anyway, you can see the resemblance to some of the final logos in these scrabbled notes.