TRAVERSE CITY -- The symbols used to represent recovery efforts by the Obama administration have some roots in northern Michigan.
Designers Aaron Draplin, a Traverse City High School graduate and owner of Draplin Design Co., based in Portland, Ore., along with Chris Glass of the design collective Wire & Twine in Oxford, Ohio, created the logos for projects completed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and for the U.S. Department of Transportation's TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) team.
Draplin, son of Lauren and Jim Draplin, of Traverse City, and Glass, both independent designers, were approached by creative director Steve Juras, formerly of Mode Project in Chicago, to create the logos ---- in just under four days.
"He never ceases to amaze us with his career and the different projects he has been involved in," said Lauren Draplin, who looks forward to seeing her son's design in use.
"Both Aaron and Chris are just the kind of people that the recovery package should be helping," said Juras, who met the designers while working on a documentary film.
"They live and die by doing design work," he said.
The results were a red, white, blue and green circle emblem, divided into three sections that include a set of gears, stars, leaves, a red cross and the Web site address recovery.gov. The second logo consists of the word TIGER in diagonal grey and orange stripes and USDOT.
Both symbols were unveiled earlier this month by President Barack Obama and will be displayed at project locations funded by the programs.
"The design community really came out in a very strong way to support the Obama campaign. It would seem appropriate to try and harness that enthusiasm to support the recovery effort," said Juras, who sang the praises of the design duo while visiting family members in Elk Rapids and Kewadin last week.
"As a concerned citizen, it would be great to have a wide swath of voices adding to the visual of the current American democracy," said Juras, noting that small business owners like Draplin and Glass have a unique perspective on the challenges that confront the American public.
"In the economy that we find ourselves in, no one is going to get rich doing bread and butter projects, but things start at that level and build from there," Juras said.
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