Until I started writing this series of blogs on my own logo designs I have to admit I was underestimating my work in this area. I had no idea how many I had designed in the course of a long career.
For me designing logotypes is just fun and always interesting but because so much of this work, like my advertising work, all are more printed ephemera than real art I have been kind of dismissive of my own input in this area. Now I find I am kind of proud of it all. Just another part of my long life as a creative artist and a graphic designer.
I mentioned previously the seminal influence of the great American typographer Herb Lubalin on my design work on the previous blog so here are some of his graphics and of course, they are all outstanding.
I used to subscribe to AvantGarde just for his work, and still have every one of them, including the original screenprints issue of Marilyn Monroe by Bert Stern.
By the time I was finished the first two blogs, about logos 1-25 I thought :
‘That’s it, I’m done with logos and logo stories, time to move on to posters and graphics.
but no, there’s still a little unfinished business.
A few more here to add to the list since the last lot.
26. FÉILE an PHOBAIL. 2000
I completely forgot about this logo, one of my very best and most evocative. It was originally for an ex-IRA prisoner friend of mine, Gearóid McDomhnaill, and it was produced as a tee-shirt for the legendary West Belfast Festival, ‘Féile an Phobail’, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, around the time of the ceasefire and the historic Good Friday Agreement.
The design is based on the ancient Irish megalithic art spirals found within in the Tumulus of Newgrange, County Meath, and is regarded as the oldest rock art in Europe, dating from more than 5,000 years ago.
The West Belfast Féile is the largest people’s festival in the EU and a wonderful example of one side, the Catholic/Nationalist people of West Belfast, reaching out every year to the other side, the Protestant/Loyalist people of East Belfast and elsewhere.
It works for both sides and is all-inclusive of LGBTQ and other minorities.
I’m damn proud to have been asked to open the art section of the festival in 2000 and this design brings it all back.
I had a great time there and met so many lovely, decent and idealistic people, all dedicated to their communities now that we finally had peace in Northern Ireland after years of often brutal conflict.
27. IRELAND. LAND OF LEGEND. 2010
This logo was for a new project of my own, celebrating my input into the world of Irish myth and legend and giving it a label.
Still use it from time to time on my website. It is a logo inspired by the letterforms in The Book of Kells.
28. QUANTUS. LOGO AND ADVERTS. 1980
Another logo created for my fashion friend Shay Pallas who gave me a lot of nice work back in the late 70s and early 80s.
This was for a new fashion brand called Quantus and as usual, I had a free hand with the logo and the ad campaign which ran in young women’s fashion magazines in Ireland.
I even wrote the ads so I have far too much fin.
I used the name ‘Da Dude’ on this lot instead of my own and this allowed me to do some crazy work for the ads.
One of the reasons I like advertising so much is that it forces you to think outside the box and make fast and decisive moves instead of endless procrastination.
I remember Banksy commenting that all the really good artists and creatives go to work in advertising and as a result, the other creatives who go into the fine arts are not quite as good and up to scratch.
I could easily believe that.
29. ASH. FREE ALL ANGELS. 2001
This rather cool logo design and art were for Northern Irish rock band ASH.
Lead singer Tim Wheeler was a big fan of my art and had used it on the inside of the band’s album of the same title but this was commissioned for tees, stage backdrops, and other stuff.
The rather well-endowed model for this one was my muse and best friend, then and now, Audrey, who was going out with Tim at the time.
It took a hit as a backdrop for the band when it was deemed to be offensive in Indonesia and removed by the police before a gig.
Angelic figures are a no-no it seems in Indonesia, as are angelic boobs.
30. MUSIKELT. 1974
John Coughlan, my late neighbour from the Burrow, Howth and a great friend of Philip Lynott, was a publisher of New Spotlight, a very famous Irish music magazine, and MusiKelt magazine was his idea for a new publication dedicated to Celtic and Irish music.
It only went to a few issues as far as I can remember but it was a fine magazine for anyone like myself who loved Irish music and the wider Celtic music revival by the likes of Breton genius Alan Stivell.
I also did a painted center-spread pullout of Alan Stivell for Musikelt which is shown here for the very first time since it appeared way back in 1974.
31. SINÉAD O’CONNOR. 2001
Sinéad O’Connor is an icon. This little genius has produced some of the most amazing recordings in modern musical history including, of course, her collaboration with the man himself, Prince, for ‘Nothing Compares To You’.
With Kate Bush and her wonderful ‘Running Down That Hill’ back in the charts in 2022 I’ll bet Sinéad gets her turn in the sun once more in the next year or so.
Genius never fades away, it just rocks us from cradle to grave.
I was blessed to work with Sinéad and her logo is a simple adaptation of her own writing style and it works.
We both wanted everything to have a certain personal resonance and familiarity so I used it on all the design and art I produced for this iconic woman of our time.
32. THE THUNDERBIRD FOOD COMPANY. 1976
Thunderbird food company was a restaurant on Grafton Street, Dublin, and was the brainchild of an ex-schoolmate of mine who had managed Dublin restaurant ‘Captain Americas Cookhouse’ before this venture.
This very elaborate airbrushed logo took ages to produce and still looks good.
I also had the logo line version we used for print media but this colour piece one was for the menu cover and a poster.
33. RHEGED. THE LOST KINGDOM. RAVEN LOGO
This raven logo was for a visitor attraction in the UK and told the story of King Arthur and the legend of the Holy Grail and Excalibur.
The logo design was based on and in the style of Anglo-Saxon art but totally original and was also used as a flag for part of a movie made for the attraction.
What I loved most about this one was the fact that the filmmakers decided to actually have my design made into a real silver jewelry piece for the movie and worn by the king as a pendant.
The only logo I did to be cast in silver as a jewelry piece.
34. ROSC. 1988
This was one of the more interesting projects I have been involved in, this time with drinks giant Irish Distillers just before it was taken over by a foreign drinks company.
I was even involved in the naming and production of this mead-type spirit designed as a once-off celebration of Irish distilling for the 1988 Dublin Millennium celebrations and for sale only for that year.
Based on Irish texts analyzed by their science team, Irish Distillers commissioned me to do all the design work. The first iteration of this Millennium mead drink was titled ‘Saga’ but there were copyright problems so we came up with the name ‘Rosc’ which is an ancient Gaelic word denoting, ‘a rousing call to arms before battle’.
I had a free hand with the design and artwork and decided, with their team, that High King Brian Boru would be the best subject as his ‘Rosc’ before the 1014 Battle Of Clontarf was famous.
I added his beautiful wife Gormlaith too as she controlled most of the friendly Dublin Vikings.
Remember also she was previously wife of powerful Viking King Olaf and mother of the great Viking king of Howth, King Sitric, so a formidable woman indeed.
Scholars today believe the Viking account of her goading her son with Brian Boru, into defying his father and joining with the hostile Vikings against him but that’s another story for another day ☺
35. Two Bare Feet
One of my very first logos, for my own poster company.
Only lasted two years but got a lot of attention and even a design award.
Had to include this one and the great portrait photo by my late photographer friend Walter Phieffer.
