• Jim Parkinson, the man who created iconic, hand-rendered logotypes for Rolling Stone, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Los Angeles Times, and The New York Times Magazine, has died.
From an obit in Typgraphica: “Born in Oakland on October 23, 1941, Jim grew up across the street from Abraham Lincoln Paulsen, the ‘Wizard Penman’ who could write the Gettysburg Address upside down and backward using only the numeral 2. This was Jim’s first exposure to the craft of lettering, and he immediately fell in love. He learned what he could by collecting lettering manuals and correspondence-school textbooks. His sources were often decades old, but referencing historical styles and making them his own would become Jim’s specialty for the rest of his career.”
• There are an unusual number of design firms rebranding themselves right now. Sometimes the reason behind the transformation is an anniversary. The cause can also be a merger or acquisition. New capabilities such as AI can also force change.
But there are far more reasons than these to subject one’s agency to such an acid test. This insightful Design Week article examines what is going on, and how managers are successfully maneuvering these sea changes.