Tom Shortlidge, creator of distinctive Crate & Barrel brand, dies at 80
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Folks can spot a Crate & Barrel bag from a look midway down the block.
Adman Tom Shortlidge is to thank for the distinctive design.
“I can level to 4 or 5 individuals who actually made the corporate a hit within the early days and Tom was positively certainly one of them,” mentioned Crate & Barrel co-founder Gordon Segal.
Their relationship was a bit roundabout.
Shortly after graduating from the College of Kansas with a graphic design diploma, Mr. Shortlidge took a job with at Younger and Rubicam, an advert agency now often called VMLY&R. To earn additional money, he additionally bought a job as flooring salesman with Crate & Barrel.
It was 1968. The homewares retailer had been open for six years on Wells Road in Previous City and was doing effectively, however nonetheless a methods off from the behemoth it will turn out to be within the ensuing many years.
“I used to be trying to redo our brand and packaging and was assembly with recognized designers and I used to be very annoyed as a result of they could not fairly catch what we have been,” recalled Segal.
“And I bear in mind having a dialog with Tom and telling him ‘They simply do not get it,'” he mentioned.
Mr. Shortlidge supplied to strive his hand.
“He took a couple of months and got here again to me and I instantly mentioned ‘Tom, that is it.'”
Mr. Shortlidge went on to design the corporate’s print adverts, catalogues and retailer signage in an expert relationship with Segal that lasted greater than 30 years.
Mr. Shortlidge died Jan. 20 from most cancers. He was 80.
The minimal but elegant and daring brand makes use of Helvetica typeface, however Mr. Shortlidge custom-made the “C” in Crate & Barrel, softening it to a close to excellent circle. He set the emblem on packaging to bend across the nook of packing containers and baggage. Mr. Shortlidge was of Norwegian heritage and was influenced by Scandinavian designs.
“He set a tonal high quality for the corporate that turned the underpinning of the shop designers who labored for me,” Segal mentioned. “It was the imagery of who we have been. I feel it was essential to Crate & Barrel’s success.”
Mr. Shortlidge went on to work as an government and inventive director for a number of advert companies, together with N.W. Ayer Chicago, and Hackenberg, Normann & Companions.
His inventive imaginative and prescient influenced adverts for every part from beer and bologna to contact lenses and inns. His shoppers included Adidas, Allied Van Strains, G. Heileman Brewing, Miller Brewing, Pabst Brewing, John Deere and Sears, the place he created “The Softer Aspect of Sears” marketing campaign.
His work acquired numerous promoting and design awards, together with a number of Clio awards, thought of the Oscars of promoting.
“He cherished structure and he cherished kind and a clear aesthetic, however nonetheless had a form of romantic edge to that,” mentioned Mr. Shortlidge’s spouse, Carole Shortlidge. “And he was a perfectionist, he might spend days writing an electronic mail to a buddy. He had a way of bringing the perfect he might to every part he did.”
Mr. Shortlidge, who labored in each print and movie promoting, was a longtime Evanston resident. He moved to Lakeside, Mich., after he retired.
“He began seeing work in his desires so he determined it was time retire and and pursue that,” his spouse mentioned.
He enrolled on the College of the Artwork Institute in an effort to pursue portray and constructed an artwork studio in his winter dwelling in Tucson, Arizona.
Mr. Shortlidge was born Nov. 19, 1943, and, as a result of his father served within the army, moved round so much till his household settled in Park Ridge when he was a youngster. He graduated from Maine East Excessive College.
He additionally cherished golf and studying, particularly biographies on U.S. presidents.
Along with his spouse, Mr. Shortlidge is survived by his daughter Chelsea Comer Shortlidge and his son Adam Shortlidge.
Household plans to host a celebration of life this summer season.
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