All About Logos

Carl Shank • September 1, 2022

I like and resonate with what John McWade said to us novice designers in the magazine he founded and edited, "Before & After," in the 1990s — "Learn typography. In my years of reviewing the portfolios of college graduates, I've seen most consistently a weakness in handling type. Type is the voice of the printed word, and your greatest tool. Learn it well. If you're learning on your own I suggest you study the typography in major magazines. Pay attention to the ads. Watch for type selection, size, spacing, position on the page, relationship to other type, contrasts and so forth. Duplicate what you see." (Before & After, Vol. 4. No. 6, 1995) His most ardent desire was for us to practice craftsmanship, which he reflected in the pages of these issues of Before & After. If you can get hold of them, prize them, study them and reflect on the craftsmanship in them.


He left nothing to sloppiness or a truncated view of typography. In his remarks about logos, he wrote — "In graphic design parlance, the word marks properly refers to the broad group of designs that are used as corporate signatures. Marks without type are called symbols, but symbols used to communicate (like in traffic signs and on restroom doors) are really pictographs. When marks are wholly typographic, they can be either lettermarks, which are usually initials or abbreviations, or logos, which may be entire words or the company name. When symbols and logos are used together, they are referred to as combination marks. And when any of the above are registered and protected by law, they are referred to as trademarks." (Before & After, , Vol. 5, No. 3, 1996, p. 5)


You can see some of these logos below in the sample.

Successful Layout & Design

Typography and Religion in the De Stijl Movement

By Carl Shank • July 8, 2025
The De Stijl (Dutch for “The Style”) typographical and art movement emerged around 1917 and significantly influenced modern art, design and thought itself. In the wake of the chaos of World War I, the movement sought to express a new vision of harmony and order. De Stijl was not just an art style, but a comprehensive aesthetic philosophy. It sought universal beauty, as abstracted from individual beauty, and a visual language and typography based on simplicity, geometry and primary colors, namely red, blue and yellow. Its core characteristics were the use of straight horizonal and vertical lines, the use of rectangles and squares, an emphasis on asymmetry, and the favoring of pure abstraction. De Stijl was deeply influenced by the philosophy of Neo-Plasticism, a theory developed by Piet Mondrian, which sought to depict reality in a pure, universal form. Behind this philosophy was the religious thrust of Theosophy, particularly the spiritual writings of Helena Blavatsky (1831–1891) and Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925).

Font Restoration Mechanics

By Carl Shank • May 13, 2025
Font Restoration Mechanics. Let me begin by giving an example from the world of theology, my first love and profession. Many people, even many non-Christian people, know that we are saved “by faith.” But faith in what or who? Well, faith in God. But this is imprecise. It is faith in Jesus Christ the Bible tells us. But once again, this too can be mistaken as just an intellectual nod of the mind toward Jesus without a real life change or transformation. More detailed biblical discussion, with appropriate distinctions, must be made so that we don’t make “faith” a human, works-based activity we do to please God. Or some existential “experience” with no definable qualities. Digging even deeper, faith saves no one, though it is absolutely necessary for salvation. It is Jesus Christ who saves. Faith becomes an “instrument” of salvation. Theologians have been unpacking this salvation “by faith alone” for centuries. Books and “how-to” sermons have been written and preached and taught here. Do you see the tremendous amount of refinement that “faith” requires? Precise typography claims similar distinctions and refinements in letter development and typeface creation. CARE Typography has been able to restore older hand-drawn fonts from various sources to modern digital typefaces. One of those most prolific sources has been from Alphabets Old and New — For The Use of Craftsmen, With An Introductory Essay on ‘Art in the Alphabet’” by Lewis F. Day, London, 1910.There is a wealth of older fonts shown by Day, one of them being a Roman Forum font from an old Roman Forum engraving. It might be thought that to copy and paste the letters and import them into a font design program, like FontLab’s Fontographer, is simple and rather straight-forward. Not so. From a font designer’s work, the transfer from a screenshot of an old book to a clear and professional open type font (SEE my Blog on “Open Type Fonts” in “More About Fonts” March 9, 2021) takes care and lots of work. It is both tedious and time intensive. The details of such work are often overlooked. Here’s an inside look at such work.
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