Esco Books was an Antwerp-based publisher active in the 1970s and 1980s, producing art and cultural titles such as Jozef Peeters (1895-1960) (1978) and The Heart: Its History, Its Symbolism, Its Iconography and Its Diseases (1985).[1][2] The publisher’s visual identity was created by Belgian graphic designer Paul Ibou, a pioneer of corporate identity design in Belgium who produced more than 350 logos over his career.[3]
Design and History
Paul Ibou (born Paul Lodewijk Henri Vermeersch, 1939-2023) designed the Esco Books logo during the 1970s.[4][5] Ibou began working as an independent graphic designer in the early 1960s and became a leading figure in developing clear visual identities, or house styles, for companies and organizations.[4]
To convince clients of his designs, Ibou created three-dimensional presentations of his logos, mostly in plexiglass mounted on a base. These logo objects formed his “logotheek” (logo library), which was acquired by Design Museum Gent in 2019.[4][3] The Esco Books logo object (museum object number 2019-0033) measures 35.5 cm high, 25.1 cm wide and 7.7 cm deep.[4]
Ibou’s logo work for Esco Books is documented in the collection of Design Museum Gent, which preserves his logo library as part of its graphic design collection.[4] The museum exhibited Ibou’s work in the 2019-2020 exhibition Off the Grid: Belgian Graphic Design from the 1960s and 1970s.[6]
Meaning and Symbolism
No documented account of the Esco Books logo’s intended symbolism or design rationale has been located in available sources. The logo is known primarily through its preservation as a three-dimensional logo object in Design Museum Gent’s collection.[4]
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