SYMMETRY. Rotation by 180 degrees. This design looks the same when turned upside down.
INSPIRATION. Created for the Stanford Computer Science Department's 25th Anniversary, November 9-11, 1990. Posted on the occasion of my 20th undergraduate reunion.
STORY. Stanford is my alma mater, both for undergraduate schools, where I majored in music, and graduate school, where I did an interdisciplinary PhD called Computers and Graphic Design. Throughout my years at Stanford the Computer Science Department was my main home. This design was commissioned by Carolyn Tajnai, who worked first with the department and later with the computer science forum, which is a liaison between the school and industry. Schmoozing with Carolyn over the years was certainly a big part of what made the department feel like home. The lettering style imitates the bold geometric outlined lettering so often associated with university names. Notice how the crossbar of the F turns into a natural extension of the tail of the A. The trickiest part was turning the S into the D, which I rationalized partly by extending both strokes to make the border.