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Portobello Books is launching a new logo created by former Penguin designer David Pearson.
Publishing director Laura Barber told The Bookseller that the implementation of the new logo was a "really good opportuntity" to reflect on the evolution of the imprint's identity and to consider its lasting impact.
“When Portobello Books was originally set up twelve years ago, it was always our plan to have a logo, but somehow the years passed and it never happened. We decided last year that the time had finally come", Barber said. "It was a really good opportunity to reflect on the way the identity of the imprint has evolved and cohered over the years and to think about the kind of impression we wanted it to create."
Discussing the thought-process that went into commissioning the design, Barber said: "First and foremost, we wanted it to make an impact and look instantly recognisable on the spine of a book. We were also aware that there are several other publishers with ‘P’ logos so we needed it to look very different from them. David Pearson has also created a brilliant animated version of the logo, which works beautifully on social media."
Barber praised Pearson's overall body of work for its "magical combination of originality and timelessness" and added that she admired the versatilty of the chosen logo. “I liked its versatility in terms of being able to match and contrast with the palette of the books, and the fact that it occupies a similar text block to the Granta 'G'. But most of all, in some intangible, instinctive way, it just it felt like us", she said.
Pearson left Penguin in 2007 to set up his own studio Type as Image.
Speaking to The Bookseller about the design of the logo, Pearson said: “The brief was very open – and I was encouraged to think laterally by a very generous client – but there was something of a ‘well of course that’s it’ when we settled on the abstracted P. It was just one of those lovely moments where we didn’t feel the need to question it. We also liked the fact that the logo could be read in a range of different ways (a book and a head; a building and a sun) without any real pressure to ‘get it’."
The first Portobello title to bear the new logo will be The White Book, the forthcoming novel from Man Booker International Prize winner Han Kang, in November. Last month, the publisher launched a website to promote the publication of the new book.
The new design will be affliated with the logo of the recently launched Portobello Prize.