Wiardgroup

> The marketing concept or the idea of combining ancient 
engraving style 
> withfuturistic control panels was what they came up with. Grant 
himself 
> drew all the celtic artwork.

This is not correct.

The original Wiard faceplates had the "dorky learning lab look", I 
uploaded a picture to the Photos section.

The Wiard graphic identity was designed as the capstone project 
for Professor Alane Spinney's "Graphic Arts II" class, second 
semester seniors 96-97. I uploaded a photo to the photos 
section.

(L-R) Lynn Peyton, Sara Pippert, Heather Culumbatto, Jason 
Cirrincione, Erika Summerfeld, Chris Frump

Center: Alane Spinney - Grand Poobah
Project Leader: Jason Cirrincione

The class was given a CAD drawing of the faceplate and a 
series of photgraphs of historical synthesizers. Their instructions 
were to provide a design which met the following criteria:

1. It must be attractive to men, women and children.

2. It must NOT have a graphic identity visually assignable to any 
decade.

Decorative type is the American Uncial typefont as made famous 
in the Sequential Circuits Prophet line. Label type is Arial Black 
in 13, 11 and 9 point sizes as used on the original Aries 300 
series modules.

The engraving design is computer tracing of 11th century tomb 
rubbings, arranged by the class to fit the faceplate.

Blind acceptance testing was done with college students, 
elementary school children and senior citizens. All persons 
questioned prefered the current faceplate design to other 
historical varieties because it was more friendly and inviting. The 
blue and white color scheme was the most popular and 
considered the easiest to read in low light situations.

In retrospect, it would have been smart to survey some synth 
users....

Oh well, live and learn.