an answer to that question

Well, I'm not sure that this really was much, much too easy a question - I think it's rather akin to Chris Tarrant saying "the questions are only easy when you know the answers". And I do think you need to be over a certain age to either remember this, or - if you're a designer - to have been taught very much about the man who designed it.

But Brad is perfectly correct: the logo is for British Leyland, and the man who designed it was FHK Henrion. I spotted it on my weekend jolly down at the Beaulieu international autojumble. And it was a development from an earlier logo that people are probably more familiar with:

But I don't know who designed this earlier version. Does anyone else out there know? (Michael?)

Now, those of you who have been coming here for a while and have good memories may recall that I once told you that I used to work for Henrion (unfortunately it's on one of those posts where Typepad have managed to lose all of my pictures). And we were working on British Leyland during my time there, although I don't remember very much about it. I think maybe Ian was working mostly on that project, but I do recall doing the odd bit of artwork here and there. (You see, it wasn't that sort of modern studio where you have regular team meetings, so that everyone knows what's going on. Henrion just wasn't that sort of boss. He was more like Michael Winner, who once said "a team effort is a lot of people doing what I say".)

So, it might happen to be that I did the artwork for that particular sign - but somehow I doubt it.

Comments

[Ben]

Really interesting. Great stuff.

[Brad Brooks]

Got to agree with Ben. I'd love to hear more about your time with Henrion...

[davidthedesigner]

'My time with Henrion' - hey, we weren't that close. But I could write a book about it. Maybe one day - though I'd need to track down Peter (Cockburn) and Ian (Dennis). And Clare the secretary with the suede mini skirt.

[Ian Dennis]

David

Just found my way back to here. I just love your blog! I've a recent photo of Pond Street (now a Chinese medicine clinic) on my iphone which I will send.

The curved glass 1970s passageway glazing reminds me of Henrion being mortified when his £30,000 railway-carriage-shaped garden room designed by (Gareth?) the architect who did the tea room around the corner went wrong. The bedroom door radius exactly married with the curved roofline… so exactly the door wouldn't open properly. Pipe ash flew.

Clare was earlier a secretary to Peter Sellers and had tales to tell about him and Lisa Minelli having it off very noisily in the room above. There was also a great conversation between her boyfriend and Henrion where he was talking about Jazz and the boyfriend was hearing Chairs. Guess that's what happens to your consonants when you come to Hampstead via Nuremberg and Paris. And yes, I remember the miniskirt too. Auf wiedersehen, Ian