GLAAD
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An early approach fea-
tures stylized finger-
prints. Though intended
to illustrate GLAAD’s
impact on society, it also
suggested FBI Most
Wanted posters and
Seger shifted his focus
elsewhere.
Another approach, an
eye peering out of a
television set, illustrates
GLAAD’s role as a media
monitor, but Seger felt it
wasn’t distinctive
enough.
To reflect the client’s
role as an advocacy
organization, Seger cre-
ated designs featuring
pointing hands, but
deemed them too stri-
dent for a group hoping
to build partnerships
with media insiders.
Seger altered the logo-
type. He chose Thesis, a
Dutch typeface reminis-
cent of old typewriter
fonts, to suggest the
client’s role as a media
watchdog group, and
replaced the stern look-
ing capitals of earlier
designs with friendlier
lowercase letters.
rough drafts/final drafts
A new logo for a nonprofit group begins with a series of literal illustrations
and ends with a sophisticated abstraction.
Graphic Design That Works
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Unsatisfied with literal illustrations, Seger
turned to abstraction in hopes of creating a
design that evoked GLAAD’s focus on change.
Experiments with photograms, created by
dropping different fluids onto photographic
paper in a darkroom, lead to a logo of fluid-like
forms.
Since GLAAD lacks the
budget for four-color print-
ing, Seger limited the color
palette to two colors. “Mixed
together, yellow and gray
allows for a whole range of
different, almost earthy,
beige tones,” says Seger of
his choice. This two-color
brochure illustrates this
point.
Client
GLAAD, which stands for Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is a nonprofit
organization that promotes fair and accurate representation of gays and lesbians in
the media as a means of combating discrimination.
What Works
As a group that analyzes the media, GLAAD knows the power of bold images to
attract attention and therefore wanted a logo that was simple. But as a nonprofit
organization that values complexity in discussions, GLAAD also hoped for a logo
that encouraged multiple interpretations. Both qualities appear in the group’s new
logo, designed by Sven Seger, which features two rows of circular shapes that gradu-
ally merge together and meet at a single point. Though its form is bold and simple
to reflect the organization’s seriousness of purpose, its meaning is intentionally
complex: Does it illustrate a minority group’s integration into mainstream life, or
does it represent a series of options—ranging from independence to integration—
that members of communities can choose from? “Both,” says Seger, who wanted to
leave space in the design for the viewer to decide. “Within GLAAD there are some
people who want integration into mainstream American life and others who want to
maintain separation. That’s why we went with this particular direction. It causes dis-
cussion and that’s what GLAAD is all about.”
STRATEGY
Ron Capello
CREATIVE D IRECTOR AND D ESIGNER
Sven Seger
FIRM
Enterprise IG
The final Logo
The abstract form
represents GLAAD’s
focus on change.
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