A Chat With The Designer Of NYU’s Torch Logo
By Leora Rosenberg
We’re trying really hard not to show any school spirit here, but the designer who made our university logo is pretty famous. Tom Geismar is one of country’s most renowned graphic designers: he’s designed logos for brands like PBS, Mobil, National Geographic, and Xerox. He designed the NYU logo in 1995, back when our school was just a growing commuter college.
We chatted with Tom about the symbolism behind the torch, the specific design needs of an urban university, and what it was like to design logos before graphics design software. Check out the highlights from our conversation below:
NYU Local: Why did the school need a logo?
Geismar: It was an issue of identifying all the buildings that were around the village at the time. How do people know which are NYU buildings? So many buildings that looked like they could be brownstones were NYU buildings.
How did that affect the design process?
You need something pretty simple that could be produced in many different materials and easily recognized.
How did you decide on a torch?
The only thing there was at the time was the university shield with runners holding torches, so our idea was to extract the torch.
What about the square around it?
By putting it on a square, we did two things. One is that we made it so it could be a plaque you could apply to all these different building entrances. Also, it made it fairly easy to reproduce the idea of light. The torch represents light and knowledge, so the torch could be a light color on a darker background.
What ideas did you reject along the way?
We thought the idea of a torch really made sense given the university seal. We went through iterations of the idea of the torch, some more abstract than others. This one is very understandable.
What was the design process like before computers?
We start with sketches and ideas and work it out basically by hand. And then today we convert it [to a computer]. In those days, we would convert it basically to a very carefully drawn ink drawing.
What advice would you give students who want to be designers or visual artists?
Follow your instincts.