A fun birthday package from my mother...

May 21 will be my 55th birthday - provided it is not actually the rapture, doomsday, or judgment day predicted by some. Although, we supposedly no longer exchange gifts in our family, simply because none of us need any more stuff, my mother does somehow find it necessary to send presents. I must admit the package that arrived this week was a very pleasant surprise.

Initially, when I opened the box, I found wooden coasters bearing the logo I created for the Oregon Department of Forestry when the agency's identity needed a makeover. The coasters were produced to celebrate the department's recent 100th anniversary. Celebratory banners have been temporarily added to my logo design. The box also contained two coffee cups noting the occasion.

The case study of the Oregon Department of Forestry logo appears in my book, Identity Crisis!: 50 redesigns that transformed stale identities into successful brands. I probably see the design more than any other I've created in my 33-year career. It is on display along highways throughout Oregon, often beautifully carved in wood, on signage designating state forest lands.

In addition, the box contained two mugs commemorating the Sisters Rodeo. According to my mother, although I designed the logo over a decade ago, the Sisters Rodeo Association recently produced the item and is offering it for sale in their gift shop. My partner Ed and I have decided the cups will be finding a home in our camping vehicle - the Get-Get-Get-Away van.

The identity was included when the Sisters Rodeo was inducted into the Library of Congress “Local Legacies" archive. The rodeo logo received an Award of Merit in the Central Oregon Drake Awards and a Silver in the Summit Creative Awards. It also is featured in The Big Book of Logos 3, LogoLounge - Volume 1 and Design for Special Events.

© 2011 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives

Re-Design: Oregon Department of Forestry

In its seventy-nine-year history, the Oregon Department of Forestry has been represented by a series of identities. Most recently, in 1971, the department adopted a half-tree logo (below).

They had been using this logo for nearly two decades when a change was proposed. Many within (and out of) the State of Oregon government agency disliked the image and found that it was confusing to many others. Some thought the thin half-tree graphic conveyed a message of unhealthy forests.

The new logo (above) conveys a much more simplified and organic image, while maintaining some the inherent formality of a government agency identity. It projected the Department of Forestry's growing involvement and interest in all forest resources, including air, soil, water and trees. The new image is more inline with the Oregon Board of Forestry's new guiding policy document, the Forestry Program for Oregon.

The logo is the department identifier on all printed collateral, vehicles, uniform shoulder patches, the website and other materials. It is widely recognized due to the carving of the logo on signage at the Oregon Department of Forestry headquarters and throughout the state at ranger stations and state forest boundaries (above).

The rebranding of the Oregon Department of Forestry by Jeff Fisher LogoMotives is one of 50 case studies, from designers and firms around the world, featured in my latest book, Identity Crisis!: 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities Into Successful Brands. The actual spread from the book is posted on the Identity Crisis! blog. The volume was released by HOW Books in late 2007.

© 2008 Jeff Fisher LogoMotives