Original logo shot down by administration

Author: Thomas Brant

Though it has only six designers, the New York firm of Chermayeff & Geismar has created some of the most recognizable corporate and academic logos on the planet. Whenever they ride the T, fill up the tank at a Mobil station or check their Chase bank accounts, people worldwide are bombarded with a Chermayeff & Geismar hallmark - a simple yet instantly recognizable company logo.

From the NBC peacock to the New York University torch, the firm has delivered success after success, so it was only natural that the College would choose Chermayeff to update the College's identity.

After more than a year of tirelessly interviewing members of the community about what Middlebury meant to them, designer Segi Haviv and his associates at Chermayeff came up with a simple collegiate seal. Around the outside, two circles contained the words "Middlebury" and "1800," representing the year the College was founded. Inside the circles, a leaf made of three M's was inscribed.

But the seal never made it to the public's eyes.

According to Haviv, the designers showed the finished logo to a special committee made up of staff, students and community members selected to work with designers on the new logo.

"Everyone on the committee loved the seal," said Haviv. "It looked very collegiate."

Eventually, the committee and the designers recommended a complete "identity package" to President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz and his staff, according to Haviv. The package included the new seal for official college communications and signage, a less prominent single leaf to serve as a secondary mark for informal occasions, and a double-leaf design for the Middlebury Initiative, the College's current fundraising effort.

"When we showed the package to Liebowitz and his staff, they were very interested in the single leaf mark," Haviv said. "They liked the leaf outside of the seal."

According to Haviv, Liebowitz wanted to use the single leaf design in place of the seal, as the College's single new identity.

Haviv and his team respected the administration's decision, replacing the seal with the single leaf that was presented to the public and later abandoned.