Up Close With Bill Rigo

Bill Rigo, director of creative services at Meister Media Worldwide, is the designer of the new Greenhouse Grower logo. Bill has been a Meister Media employee for 24 years, and he's played a key role in the look of Greenhouse Grower magazine as he's watched the greenhouse industry evolve tremendously during his tenure.

Below, Bill shares his thoughts on the new Greenhouse Grower logo design, the third in the magazine's 26-year history.

What makes the new Greenhouse Grower logo a standout?

I hope the new Greenhouse Grower logo is a standout. Early on in the process of giving Greenhouse Grower magazine a facelift, specific goals were established by the whole GG business team. One goal was to create a brighter, cleaner and more user-friendly magazine. Brad Kish, one of our senior graphic designers, did an excellent job conveying all our goals in the print product. Working with Brad, I was able to take the “feel” of what was established for the magazine and express that in a new face for the brand.


From an artistic standpoint, what separates the new Greenhouse Grower logo from the old one?

The old logo was a second or third step in an evolution of designs since Greenhouse Grower’s inception in 1983. Our new design is completely new. Starting with a clean slate and referring to the new magazine design cues, I set out to create a new emblem that reflected today’s greenhouse industry.

Did you draw on any inspiration in the development of the logo?

My main inspiration was the greenhouse industry itself. I’ve been involved in the creative direction of Greenhouse Grower since the early 1990s, and I have witnessed the evolution of this industry. My sense is that greenhouse grower’s are a very progressive group, and very plugged in to technology, as well as having a close relationship with the retail segment.

I wanted the new image of Greenhouse Grower to speak to them, and have them relate to it as well.

Some subliminal design cues that I tried to incorporate were: lowercase stylized lettering for the word “greenhouse” to depict plant material (the letter “h” creates leaves to support our “Variety Central” flower logo), the large but thin capital lettering for “GROWER,” first, because that’s what this brand is all about (the grower), but also to depict the greenhouse structure. The logo incorporates both elements of the industry: the plant material and the greenhouse structure.

The colors chosen also reflected today’s industry – the natural green color for obvious reasons, and the purple color is one we use to reflect our varieties coverage, as well the masthead color established for GreenhouseGrower.com earlier this year.

Ultimately I want the viewer of the new branding to feel that it’s clean, friendly, inviting yet strong, and easily recognizable as the greenhouse industry’s leading information source.