Tenth Letter of the Alphabet

Monday, July 16, 2012

Anatomy of a Logo: Forbidden Planet, Part 1

In 1982 at the Seagate office, Phil Seuling introduced me

to Mike Luckman, who asked for a new logo design.

I used the font, Peter Max Riverside Drive,
from the Photo-Lettering One Line Manual
of Styles for the word “Forbidden”.

Marker rendering of the logo

Letterhead comp

A font from the LetraSet Plaza family

Alterations to the letters F, R, B, E L and N

Marker rendering of the logo

Letterhead comp

Art in India ink on 2-ply plate-finished bristol board;
4 1/16 by 9 1/8 inches / 10.3 by 23.2 centimeters.

Letterhead

Envelope and business cards

Village Voice ad, October 26, 1982

Village Voice ad, December 7, 14, and 21, 1982

1983

1983

A history of the Forbidden Planet stores is here.

Related Posts

Forbidden Planet Storefront

Forbidden Planet Logo, Part 2
The Forbidden Planet Halloween Ads, 1982–1989

(Tomorrow, Part 2)

Monday, July 9, 2012

Creator: Byron Preiss

BYRON PREISS

April 11, 1953 – July 9, 2005

How I Met Byron Preiss
by Alex Jay

Eighty percent of success is showing up.*
—Woody Allen

I was familiar with Byron’s book series Weird Heroes and Fiction Illustrated. In the summer of 1977, Tony Salmons and I drove from Casa Grande, Arizona to San Diego, California to attend the annual Comic-Con. At the time, I was a graphic design major at Arizona State University, and I wanted to share my portfolio with Frank Cirocco, Brent Anderson and Gary Winnick, aspiring comic book artists whom we met a few years earlier.

Soon after we checked in at the El Cortez Hotel, we got a call from one of them who said to come to their room now because Byron was going to be there to look at their work; Byron was at the con to promote his latest project, Empire, by Samuel Delany and Howard Chaykin, and to look for new talent. We arrived at their room and placed our portfolios on the bed. Byron showed up and after the introductions, he looked through the portfolios. My portfolio was the last one, and he asked who did the work. I said it was mine and mentioned I was moving to New York City in the Fall. Byron gave his card to me and said to call him.

This was completely unexpected, a chance meeting that changed the direction of my life and career. I moved to New York City on October 1, 1977, and in due time, called Byron and got my first assignment, a lettering job for the story, “The Furies”, for the Illustrated Roger Zelazny book. That was the beginning of nearly 25 years of creative work for Byron.

* Wikiquote; scroll down to to the paragraph just above Getting Even (1971).

The New York Times

Wikipedia

Google Images

The Byron Preiss Children’s Fund
Facebook

(Next Monday: Forbidden Planet store logo)

Monday, July 2, 2012

Lettering: The Dynamite 3-D Poster Book

The Dynamite 3-D Poster Book (1979) featured six illustrations by Neal Adams; the cover art was by Werner Kappes. Neal gave the title lettering job to Tom Orzechowski, who finished four of the six titles. There was a schedule change and the posters were needed right away, so Neal asked me to do the last two titles. The six 3-D titles are featured below. The black-and-white illustrations are from The Neal Adams Treasury 2 (1979).