Recent Identity Work: A New Look for a Publisher

This is for a publisher, Alice James Books. The had an ugly “Adobe-esque” letter A before and that was all they had for their independent book publishing group, affiliated with the University of Maine.

Matt Sharff and I integrated her portrait (she was, after all, the sister of William and Henry James who lived a largely confined and isolated life, so time for an overhaul in my opinion!) in an oval for the historical look, but we cleaned it up and gave it a modern “makeover” in Photoshop. The best part, is they like our quirky, rotated letter “J” and it is really satisfying to help a non-profit “find” a new look.

Arno is the font we used. Named after the Florentine river which runs through the heart of the Italian Renaissance, Arno draws on the warmth and readability of early humanist typefaces of the 15th and 16th centuries.

While inspired by the past, Arno is distinctly contemporary in both appearance and function. Designed by Adobe Principal Designer Robert Slimbach, Arno is a meticulously-crafted face in the tradition of early Venetian and Aldine book typefaces. We created EPS files with text outlines and next we hope to integrate this new logo on the website.