About the ICON logo

Several months ago I asked Gus Stafford (noted artist whose work has been featured multiple times on the covers of Crown Jewels of the Wire and The Rainbow Riders' Trading Post magazines, and who creates many of the drawings for the GCIC "Best use of Power Insulators" award), if he could create an improved logo for ICON. The black and white image I had with a couple of Mickies, and a computer was, shall we say, a little mickey mouse? :-)

I didn't give him any specific guidelines, but I wanted the topics of "computers" and "communication" and the "Internet" somehow worked into the design. In a few days, he created an initial draft, and with only a minor suggestion or two from me, he made the fantastic logo you see here. In his reply to me, he described the interpretation of his design:

"The entire logo was created on the computer. I drew the CD 202 using a program called Microlathe. This is a shareware program that creates 3D images and lets you select wire or rendered representations. I combined the images using PowerPoint."

"I selected a transposition insulator based on its function. Since transpositions were used at transition points on the lines I thought it was appropriate since we are transitioning from written to electronic correspondence on the World Wide Web. Transposition insulators also helped in maintaining a clearer signal in communications and this is a goal of the ICON club. The wire drawing transitioning to an actual insulator represents bringing the virtual world to the real world. Red, White, and Blue represent the American origin of ICON since it truly is a World Wide Web."

Gus, you did a fantastic job! The logo is even more impressive after you read his thoughts about the motivation for his design.

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Last updated Friday, July 11, 1997