Angus’ A-Z of logos: ENO

In his latest monthly Transform column on the A-Z of logo design, Pentagram partner and creative director Angus Hyland describes how the ENO logo struck a tune in the 1990s.

Not to be confused with everyone’s favourite ambient musician, ENO is the acronym for the English National Opera, the company based (for now at least) at the London Coliseum. It was Mike Dempsey who designed the most famous incarnation of the ENO logo in his sketchbook while sitting on the top deck of the 38 bus. Being a long-time resident of North London, it’s a logo that I often think about when I’m on the top deck of the 38, staring out of the window as I slowly make my way from Centrepoint to the wilds of N1.

Like its subject, the ENO logo is all about the voice. The logo embodies the unique qualities of opera, creating a pictogram (or should that be pre-emoji?) with the opened-mouthed ‘O’ suggesting a well-upholstered opera singer mid-aria. It’s a nice visual connection to the music — which of course is at the heart of what ENO does – and the idea of voice is implicit within the letterforms.

As you’ll have noticed, each letter is a different weight within the original logotype. Perhaps this alludes to the tonal range of a singer and the ebbs and flows within the opera itself? Maybe it’s because it was designed in 1991 and that sort of thing was quite fashionable at the time? Or could it have been that Mike was subconsciously influenced by Otl Aicher’s classic 1976 logo for lighting manufacturer Erco, whose lights were on display at the Holborn showroom of Concorde Lighting that happened to be very close to the number 38 bus route?

In 2015, a refreshed version of the logo by Rose Design was revealed, which involved making all of the letters in the ENO acronym the same weight. The rationale was “to signify the significant transformation the organisation would be undergoing over the next few years”, which rather implies that things have gone from multi-tonal to one shrill, skinny note.

Is there a meta-meaning here? Does the new slimline logo reflect opera’s diminishing cultural significance? The last few years have seen growing distaste for opera’s OTT productions and elitist stance, an increase in its irrelevance to the younger audiences, and the subsequent starvation of government funding. If so, as ENO prepares to leave its home of 55 years to be banished up North for good, could the ENO logo soon be in danger of wasting away altogether?

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