MOHR : DESIGN

MOHR : DESIGN

MOHR : DESIGN, a studio with at times up to four employees, was established in Berlin, Germany in 1974 and has created successful market-responsive designs for more than a hundred small and mid-size corporations as well as for private clients, public institutions, and cultural and sports events. In 1997 MOHR : DESIGN relocated to Santa Barbara, California and continued to design logos, printed matter, comprehensive visual concepts, and also websites for individuals, small businesses, publishers, art galleries — local, countrywide, and international.

We offer outstanding, clearly structured graphic design and design consultation for all kind of businesses, institutions, or events. Please call or contact us via email to find out how we can help you with your project!

THE DESIGNER

JACK N. MOHR, born in Berlin, Germany, studied Art and Visual Communication at the State University for Creative Arts in Berlin and graduated with a Masters’ degree in Graphic Design. After working in advertising agencies and design ateliers he founded his own studio in 1974 which serves clients in the United States as well as in Germany.

JACK N. MOHR also gave presentations about the graphic design profession for high school graduates in Berlin and taught a graphic design class for the Continued Learning Program of Santa Barbara City College.

Aside from his design-work, JACK N. MOHR is also widely known in the art scene for his ceramic wall-sculptures and expressionistic paintings. See his art here. He is also a contributor to stockphoto sites such as iStock, EyeEm, Shutterstock, depositphotos, and Adobe. For thirteen years he owned ARTAMO GALLERY in Santa Barbara, the first one to focus solely on contemporary abstract art.

Languages: English, German, French

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

MOHR:DESIGN focuses on straight and clear design, putting function ahead of visual trends, without compromising aesthetics. We believe in the process of defining marketing or communication goals first, and then developing adequate concepts and first class design systems.

AREAS OF DESIGN

+      Print Design — e.g. stationery, info flyers, invitations, menus, brochures, books, posters
+      Logo & Trademark Design
+      Conceptual Design — e.g. Corporate ID, Signage & Orientation Systems
+      Labels & Package Design
+      Advertising (print)
+      Trade-Fair Planning & Design
+      Typography & Fonts
+      Web Design
+      Design Consultation

FIELDS OF EXPERIENCE

+     Industry & Manufacturing
+     Trades & Professional Services
+     Computers, Elektronics, Hardware & Software
+     Real Estate, Developments, Investments & Financing
+     Business & Marketing
+     Retail & Specialized Stores
+     Tourism, Hotels & Restaurants
+     Sports & Leisure
+     Media, Film & Broadcasting
+     Musik, Arts & Culture
+     Education & Science
+     Not-for-Profit & Public Projects

AWARDS / RECOGNITION

JACK N. MOHR has won international recognition with his logo and trademark designs: Six logos were exhibited at the first World Symbol Festival in Ostend, Belgium, in 1994. One plus an extra were published in 1995 by Interecho Press, Belgium in their internationally regarded book Logo World. Also in 1995, the ERBE logo won a Certificate for Design Excellence at the European Regional Design Annual and was simultaneously published in the United States and Europe by Rotovision and Print Magazine in the spring of 1996. In the same year Rockport Publishers chose the Hoepfner Baukonzept trademark for worldwide publication in their book Letterhead & Logo Design 4.

JACK N. MOHR won more than once a certificate of excellence from the public competition “Vorbildliche Plakate” (“Exemplary Posters”) in Berlin.

PUBLICATIONS

Aside from having his designs published in design books and magazines (see “Awards & Recognition” above) JACK N. MOHR self-published a 300 pages documentation about his work from the years 1972–1999 and wrote articles about corporate design and marketing for a publication of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce. He also wrote and illustrated a complete chapter about the same subject for the 784 pages strong “Das Große Handbuch der Werbung” (The Big Manual of Advertising), published by Verlag Moderne Industrie, Germany.

“West-Berlin Grafik-Design” — a just released German/English book about graphic design in West-Berlin at the time of the Berlin Wall features a full 16 pages chapter about JACK N. MOHR’s logos and corporate design systems. More info below.

2019/2020/2021 NEWS & PROJECTS

The first conceptual design task in 2019, which included a responsive website, was implemented in February. It is for music entertainment for parties and events — vintage music played from vintage vinyl recods on classic vintage vacuum tube stereo equipment to produce the original sound of the 1960s and ’70s.

Next, aside from the small routines, such as website updates etc. — are three poetry books for ARTAMO Press.

Finally in November of 2019, the long awaited design book about the design scene and history in West Berin during the time of the wall (1961-1989) came out and is available now. A full chapter — 16 pages out of a total of 152) is dedicated to my conceptual work and logo designs of that time.

ARTAMO PRESS WEBSITE RE-DESIGN 2020

During the process of designing new books for ARTAMO PRESS their website was totally restructured, simplified and modernized.

DISPLAY PHOTO TYPEFACES 2020/2021

Special design projects for the stock photo market in form of individual images for portals such as shutterstock, depositphotos, and adobe.

DESIGN CONCEPT 2019
WAYNE’S VINYL RECORD SHOW

The logo for this new enterprise stylizes a vinyl record combined with vintage type to evoke the idea of vintage musical entertainment from records. The elongated height stroke of the letter “h” — or in the short version of “W” — symbolizes a traditional turntable record player.

Beyond the logos, the project included letterheads 1 & 2, a business card, an announcement flyer, information flyers (based on the website design), envelope, a projected business van, and a responsive website.

BOOK PROJECTS 2020/2021

Three books for ARTAMO PRESS poetry series are in the works and to be published this year. While Black Spider counts as a conventional poetry book, the other two fall — by content — into the experimental category. One features visual-typographic concrete poetry, the other deals with photographic street poetry.

WEST-BERLIN GRAFIK-DESIGN 2019

Author: Jens Müller
Published 2019 in English/German
152 pages · 500 illustrations
ISBN 978-3-00-063546-5

EUR 28 / USD 31 free shipping
Order here directly from the publisher

With 500 illustrations, numerous interviews, and also unpublished works, this book takes a journey to a city that no longer exists.

Graphic Design behind the Iron Curtain

After the end of World War II, the Cold War started and Germany was divided into two separate states. In 1961, the East built a wall that turned the western part of Berlin into an island behind the Iron Curtain. Until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, West Berlin remained a special political construct with its own cultural scene, its own press sector, and its own graphic design.

The design history of West Berlin: The posters of SFB, using modernist graphics to announce concerts of new music. The »Berlin Layout« by Anton Stankowski, which is considered the first modern corporate identity system for a city.

Book covers by Christian Chruxin in Swiss Style. Design for cultural institutions by Jürgen Spohn, Volker Noth, and Ott+Stein set new standards far beyond the city. Logos of over three decades. Information design developed under Erik Spiekermann for Berlin’s public transportation. Works of Jack N. Mohr, who created corporate design solutions for many local companies.

LOGOS & TRADEMARKS

Trademarks, Logos, Signets belong to the most poignant visual statements. They reflect in a highly concentrated manner the identity of the entity they represent by concentrating their philosophy into a single symbol. Most trademarks are strongly abstracted and reduced to their basic essentials.

Trademarks should make a product, a project, or an idea unforgettable and produce pictures within the viewer which he will recall under similar circumstances.

COMBINATION MARKS

SYMBOLS & WORDMARKS

MASTHEADS / WORDMARKS

TYPE & FONTS

Some people only know two kinds of fonts: those with feet and those without. Yet, today is a nearly uncountable amount of typefaces available. Many of them were designed for special purposes. Some fonts work better in print, some better on computers, and lately many were designed — often derivates of existing fonts — to work best on mobile media and other gadgets which were not even known two decades ago. A vast number of fonts was created for decorative use, some are just experimental. — Our designs belong into the last two categories except for Artamo, which is a unique special purpose font.

TYPEFACE DESIGN : VEGGIES

A photo display alphabet.

Veggies is a picture display alphabet with capital letters, numbers and some extra characters cut out from photos of fresh vegetables displayed at market stands. It is a special design for the stock photo market and offered in form of individual images at portals such as shutterstock, depositphotos, and adobe.

TYPEFACE DESIGN : COLOR PENCILS

A photo display alphabet.

Color Pencils is a picture display alphabet with capital letters, numbers and some extra characters compiled from photos of old color pencils of different lengths. It is a special design for the stock photo market and offered in form of individual images at portals such as shutterstock, depositphotos, and adobe.

TYPEFACE DESIGN : FLOWERS

A photo display alphabet.

Flowers is a picture display alphabet with capital letters, numbers and some extra characters cut out from photos of fresh flowers displayed at flower stands or seen outdoors. It is a special design for the stock photo market and offered in form of individual images at portals such as shutterstock, depositphotos, and adobe.

FONT DESIGN : JANOMO DOT / JANOMO LINE

A text font family.

Janomo is a font family with three weights and an extra slanted and also an outlined version. It comes in two variations: one features dots where the other has lines.

FONT DESIGN :
ELEMENTS MONO / ELEMENTS DUO

A one or two colored display font.

The Elements fonts are designed out of very few basic parts, which together form all the characters of the set. Elements Mono is a monochromatic font to be used like every other regular font. Elements Duo is a combination of two font sets to be overlayed. Both can be colored differently and then paired to show a complete two-colored text.

FONT DESIGN :
TILES ROUND / TILES BLOCK

An experimental font in two variations.

The Tiles fonts characters are designed from a very few basic elements based an a square grid. These can be set like real tiles to create a pattern with readable text. It comes with round shaped elements (Tiles Round) and also sharp edged (Tiles Block).

FONT DESIGN : ARTAMO BOLITE

A special purpose font in two weights.

Artamo Bolite is a special design for the logotype of ARTAMO GALLERY and to be used in their exhibition announcements and advertising. It is an interpretation of font designs by Paul Renner and Eric Gill in the 1920s. It features bold and light characters in one font accessed through upper and lower cases on the keyboard.

VISUAL CONCEPTS

Visual design systems are based on deep research, many tests and complex planning. This goes beyond creating a logotype or business card — it involves a vast amount of different items, from stationery, reports, catalogs, technical information, price-tags, signage, vehicles, to office or shop interiors, and exhibition booths. All elements should clearly demonstrate their visual connection to show that they all are part of the same enterprise. Structured design systems serve as guidelines to direct the design and production of all visual means of communication. Such concepts define colors and formats, fonts and sizes, logos, and much more.

DESIGN CONCEPT DRIFTE WOHNFORM

In 1986 we developed the new design system for Drifte Wohnform, a large furniture dealer in Moers, Germany. The new design was first introduced 1987 together with the opening of the completely remodeled building.

The new logo uses elements resembling the shape of furniture, specifically of a table and sofa (their main merchandise) and formed the letter D in an eye-catching manner.

STATIONERY

Letterheads and forms, short info, business card, sales contract, packing list, address label etc.

SIGNAGE & VEHICLES

Signage at property entrance, trucks and containers, furniture price tag, window signs, direction signs.

DESIGN CONCEPT OERTEL

Oertel Hoch- und Tiefbau is an old builders and contractors business in Berlin covering all branches of the trade. Until 1992 all printed materials were "designed" by their printer, but with the reunification of Germany, when their area of operations was expanding substantially as well as their competition, they felt the need for a strong visual identity.

Yellow was Oertel's traditional identifying color, so it was made a main constraint for the new concept. The logo, designed with strong, stabile letters has yellow squares alike bricks underlining the company's name.

STATIONERY

Letterhead (with and without address information), short info, business card, sales contract, packing list, address label etc.

On the left:
Logo and invitation card cover (flat open).

VEHICLES & EQUIPMENT

Signage at property entrance, trucks and containers, furniture price tag, window signs, direction signs.

DESIGN CONCEPT
POLO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 1989

The Polo World Championship 1989 was set on the famous Maifeld in Berlin, the site of the 1936 Summer Olympics, when polo still was an Olympic discipline. The two polo clubs in Berlin together with the German Polo Association — using a promotional brochure created by
MOHR : DESIGN — succeeded at the Federacion Internacional de Polo to stage this extraordinary tournament. Within only five years qualifying games were played on five continents and with the help of the British Military in Berlin logistics (such as stabling horses, field maintenance, and security) were solved. MOHR : DESIGN was not only tasked to design the logo and posters but also to develop a comprehensive visual concept and to supervise the implementation of the visual concept for the entire event.

STATIONERY

Letterhead variations, sheet for press releases, envelopes, business cards, postcard, variety of tickets for entry, parking etc.

MISCELLANEOUS

Flag, program brochures, banner at stadium entrance, T-shirts, podium, scoreboard, event billboard, signage on official cars.

EXAMPLES

Below we present examples of printed matter and other things we have designed over the years. Though it only shows a small selection of the vast number and variety of projects that we have successfully completed, this will give you an idea about our graphic style and design approach.