George Opperman

Summary

George Opperman (January 5, 1935 – November 27, 1985) was a graphic designer who co-founded the design consultancy Gruye-Vogt-Opperman,[1] and later created the original Atari logo.

Atari logo by George Opperman
Atari logo by George Opperman

The Atari symbol was designed by George Opperman in 1972/3.[2] At the time, Opperman was the head of his own design agency, Opperman-Harrington Inc.[3] The Atari logo, later described as a "Fuji" (as in Mount Fuji in Japan), looks like the letter "A", and was meant to represent the game Pong, with "two opposing video game players with the center of the Pong court in the middle."[4] In addition to the Atari logo, Opperman produced art for Atari's coin-op cabinets,[5] and backglass artwork for Atari pinball games such as Airborne Avenger [6] and Superman.

George Opperman died of lung cancer at age 50 on November 27, 1985.[7]

References edit

  1. ^ Katz, Barry (September 4, 2015). Make It New A History of Silicon Valley Design. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262029636.
  2. ^ ""Atari: The Lost Years of the Coin-Op, 1971-1975"". Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2008-03-11.
  3. ^ "The Atari logo: behind 'the Fuji'"
  4. ^ "FAQ". Atari Age. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  5. ^ Cam Shea. "Al Alcorn Interview". IGN.
  6. ^ "AirBorne Avenger at GameArchive.com". Archived from the original on April 13, 2003. Retrieved 2013-04-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ^ Interview of Tim Lapetino, author of Art of Atari

External links edit

  • george opperman at arcade-history