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Fred Seibert's Blog

The MTV logo wasn’t always an “M.”

February 8th, 2007

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Running into this old article on the origins of the MTV logo (designed by Manhattan Design: Pat Gorman, Frank Olinksky, Patti Rogoff) in my junk recently reminded me of the accidental process that “branding” is and how often the most successful stuff seems to have an innate intelligence that really isn’t there.

Sometimes I watch a great cartoon and marvel about how the creative team thought about something or other, or how smart they were to use the music a certain way, or how they must planned for the world domination they have.

And then I remember. It’s all an accident. Sure there’s talent, often there’s who knows whom, maybe the fix was in. But luck, never underestimate it.

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Ick! It looks like the logo for a Lite FM station or something. I’m glad they switched it.

 

They didn’t. I did. And, of course, I agree. But, you know, at the moment it looked OK. Just shows you what a little time and perspective can do.

 

[…] Rogoff) and Corey & Co. But after we became known as the group who developed (not designed) the MTV logo, our reps were set in stone for a while. Eventually we were able to morph it into the idea of […]

 

[…] music designers of the last 30 years (starting, most famously, with his co-design of the MTV logo). He selflessly went to work on whatever I asked him for, including this unreleased album cover for […]

 

[…] Kronos Quartet to Secret Machines. And, not at all incidentally, Frank was part of the team that designed the iconic MTV logo. Frank and I have been collaborating for too long to go into, but suffice it to say the first […]

 
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