Harvard University Press (HUP), the academic publishing division of Harvard University, adopted a new visual identity in 2013 to mark its centennial. The redesign was created by the New York-based firm Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, which had previously designed identities for HarperCollins, Princeton University Press and the Library of Congress.[1]
Design and History
For a hundred years, Harvard University Press appears to have had no logo it could call its own. Designers typically turned to the type-specimen book of the Printing Office and used one of scores of Harvard shields found there, sometimes with different shields appearing on the spine and title page of the same book. By the mid-1970s, shield use became infrequent and a simple “Harvard” appeared on book spines.[2]The press came to Chermayeff & Geismar in 2012 for an updated identity that could work across every platform, specifically in digital formats such as e-reader devices, online and mobile applications. At that time, the press was using an oval mark holding a shield that encased the traditional Harvard motto VERITAS (truth) within three books, with the name “Harvard University Press” written inside the oval around the shield. Some version of these elements had been used to identify the press for many decades.[3]The firm presented three traditional design solutions that incorporated elements of the existing identity, plus one “wild card”: a re-imagined H formed by six rectangles. The most important decision-makers at the press immediately seized upon the most modern mark.[3] The new identity was launched at the beginning of 2013.[3]The logo takes the form of two vertical rows of three crimson rectangles, with the letter H visible in the negative space between the six rectangles.[2] The redesign took around three months, with Harvard selecting the simplest, most modern-looking design of the options presented.[1]Meaning and Symbolism
According to Sagi Haviv, partner at Chermayeff & Geismar, the re-imagined H is formed by six crimson rectangles, suggesting a bookshelf. The total image evokes a traditional paned window, but also the rectangles of modern digital devices.[4] Haviv also described the overall rectangular shape as calling up a page from a traditional book, while remaining suggestive of digital reading devices.[1]The new identity emphasizes the Harvard name, which had previously been integrated and, to a large degree, obscured within the seal.[1] The publisher’s traditional crimson color remains, though it was brightened.[1]Typography and Design
The wordmark is set in the Palatino typeface. Haviv explained that Palatino looks traditional and serves as an appropriate counterpoint to the modern symbol, with a bold, distinctive, hand-lettered quality.[1]The new mark was designed to anchor the Harvard University Press family of logos, functioning well alongside the intricate colophons of the press’s specialized imprints, including the Belknap Press, the Loeb Classical Library, the I Tatti Renaissance Library, the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library and the Murty Classical Library of India.[4]Logo Index is an independent educational archive covering logos, visual identities and graphic design history. All trademarks and brand assets remain the property of their respective owners.
