Dorinda Gayle was a talented artist that lived her life all over the country and eventually settled in Newport News, Virginia. She made it a point to fearlessly explore new materials and methods throughout her artistic career. Her last artistic endeavors were creating large, abstract, colored glass pieces. To help her promote herself, she needed a new identity that reflected her new creative direction.
It was hung the wrong way.
While attending a group art show featuring Dorinda Gayle, I found that her piece had been hung upside down. Given of the abstract nature of her work, the average viewer had no clue unless they had previous seen the piece.
Where most artists would be offended or call for an immediate correction. Dorinda Gayle loved it. She smiled, and commented that it was rare that an artist gets to see their own work in a new way. She loved the result and from then on never included how her work should be hung for future shows.
There is no up or down.
The incident in the gallery was too wonderful to ignore and became the primary inspiration. The final monogram is layered, transparent, colorful, and energetic just like Dorinda Gayle and her work. The mark is ambigrammatic (having no up or down) and blends three simple colors into several more.
A moment of delight.
Every design should strive to include a “moment of delight”. The contact information on the business card is presented in such a way as to facilitate that moment. The ambigram logo appears in the middle of the card, and the other information is set facing “inward”. Only certain pieces are readable from certain perspectives and forces the user to turn the card. This turn reveals the delightful moment if the user hadn’t experienced it already.
AIGA Richmond GRADE 5
Winner of Best in Category for Logos/Icons/Stationery
and Winner of Judges’ Choice
“It’s simply a ‘D’ and a ‘G’. Printed on both sides of the card it reads back to front, upside down, and from every direction it’s whimsical and thoughtful. Plus, it’s got a little Bradbury Thompson thrown in.”
— Marcus Hewitt, Chief Creative Officer of Dragon Rouge (NY) —
