DJ Stout: Logos are overrated

One More Question

Highlights from the conversation

• I'm always encouraging my clients to brag in a good way.
• A logo is just a mark and some of the best-known brands in the world have really crappy logos
• As far as trying to build a brand or a personality, that's memorable. It always comes from a unique place. And usually it comes from a smaller place
• [A logo] is just a symbol. A symbol only has meaning once you do all the other things around it that communicate that brand
• You need to embrace who you are. Be true to who you are and tell that story of who you are
• People are so often very passionate about what they're making, if you can engage with that, you get away from the mundane, sameness in so much of the communication you see

More about DJ Stout

DJ Stout is one of 24 Partners of the acclaimed international design consultancy Pentagram and the Principal of the Austin, Texas office. Stout joined Pentagram as a partner in 2000. Pentagram, founded in London in 1972 by five designers, currently has four offices around the world.

In a special 1998 issue, American Photo magazine selected Stout as one of the “100 Most Important People in Photography.” In 2004 I.D. (International Design) magazine selected Stout for “The I.D. Fifty,” its annual listing of design innovators. In 2010 The Society of Illustrators honored Stout with the national Richard Gangel Art Director Award for his advocacy of illustration during his design career. Also in 2010 Stout was recognized as an AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) Fellow Award recipient for his exceptional contributions to the field of graphic design.

His design work is included in several national design collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Dallas Museum of Art, The Wittliff Collections, and the Cooper Hewitt–Smithsonian Design Museum.

Stout and his team specialize in the creation of brand identity and strategy, publication design, packaging and interactive solutions.

Stout and his team have done work for high-profile companies and institutions like Microsoft Windows, Ruby Tuesday, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Walgreens, Lands’ End, L.L. Bean, Southwest Airlines, The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, The Perot Museum of Nature and Science, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Contemporary Austin, The Houston Ballet, World Wildlife Fund, SkinCeuticals, Advanced Nutrients, Northwestern, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Middlebury, Loyola Marymount University, UC Berkley, The University of Colorado, Drexel and USC.

DJ is the author of three books; The Pictures of Texas Monthly Twenty-Five Years, The Amazing Tale of Mr. Herbert and his Fabulous Alpine Cowboys Baseball Club, and Variations on a Rectangle–his forty-year design retrospective.

Find DJ here: Instagram | Twitter

Show notes

People:

• Michael Bierut
• Paula Scher
• Luke Hayman
• Herbert Kokernot Jr.

Companies and organisations:

• o6 Ranch
• Alpine Cowboys
• Kokernot Field
• Texas Monthly Magazine

Miscellaneous:

• King of Diamonds – The story behind Alpine’s Kokernot Field

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One More Question is a podcast by Nicework, a purpose-driven company helping people who want to make a dent in the world by building brands people give a shit about.

One of the things we do best is ask our clients the right questions. This podcast came about because we want to share some of the best answers we have heard over the last 13 years. We talk to significant creators, experts and communicators we encounter and share useful insights, inspiration, and facts that make us stop and take note as we go about our work.

Hosted by our founder Ross Drakes.

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