Some were very small, some international.

HKS was my first architectural client, Corgan my second. My work for them never overlapped though. I was careful about that with every AEC client. HCB Beck, Greiner, Bateson, Omniplan-those were some of the other larger ones.

I did a few smaller programs, like an identity and brochure for architecture and interior design firm Rogers-Ford and a fun and unique logo for Jeff Smith, an architectural stained-glass creator. Weir Brothers, an excavation company, was an interesting client. They had a logo that was a cartoon of a bulldozer. I told them straight up, “We’re not going to use that.” They were working on high-end projects like construction at the Dallas Museum of Art and the Meyerson Symphony Center. I was thinking about a simple Futura “W” for their logo. Then I thought about the type of work they do and said, “Why don’t we excavate a ‘W’ in the ground and shoot the image from above?” Weir Brothers was working on a golf course project at the time, which proved an ideal location. I gave them the Futura “W” and the excavation dimensions. The logo itself stretched 60 feet or more and the depth of the trenches that made the “W” were six or seven feet deep. It was deep enough to stand in and get lost. Interestingly, years later I had about a 30-minute, face-to-face presentation of my work with Steve Jobs and the main thing he truly reacted to was the “W” on the Weir Brothers brochure.ĭo you have favorite stories from working with your AEC clients? We used their helicopter and shot the image for a brochure cover and the image took hold. I did a large format brochure for HKS one time, and soon Ron Brame, FAIA called me and said they got an airport job in Italy and the brochure had had a big impact on the client.

Omniplan logo