New Work: Scripps College

For a small liberal arts school, Scripps, the elite women’s college in Claremont, California, has a remarkably strong commitment to typography and the book arts. This includes its own typeface, Scripps College Old Style, designed by the master type designer Frederic Goudy in 1941, after he gave several lectures at the school. (See his amazing drawings for the font here.) Perhaps Goudy was inspired by the picturesque environs; according to a recent poll by Forbes, Scripps has one of the most beautiful campuses in the world.

This spring Scripps inaugurated its eighth president, Dr. Lori Bettison-Varga, and asked Pentagram to create an insignia to commemorate the occasion. The emblem is the centerpiece of a school campaign called “The Genius of Women.” Timed to the inauguration, the campaign draws attention to the achievements of Scripps alumnae and other women who have made an impact on the world. The theme also served as the focus of Dr. Bettison-Varga’s inaugural address, “Cultivating the Genius of Women.” The designers drew on the school’s graphic traditions to create an iconic emblem for the event.

La Semeuse, or “she who sows,” appears as the focal point of the school’s seal, scattering seeds of knowledge. Working with consultant Andrea Jarrell, a Scripps alumna, the designers redrew and built a circular insignia out of these seeds, arranging eight of them—one for each of the school’s presidents—in a flower shape that is both strong and celebratory. “The Genius of Women” tagline has been set in Goudy’s Scripps College Old Style. The school developed a website for the campaign, and the emblem was incorporated into invitations, decorations and other collateral for the inauguration, including the robes Dr. Bettison-Vega wore at the investiture ceremony.

Project Team: Michael Bierut, partner-in-charge and designer; Jennifer Kinon, designer.