“Another — rather ARGO-esque — story, this time about the logo:

I met Barbara Thoma when we were both quite a bit younger, and I was an ambitious graphic designer. The occasion was an ARGO party in 1996, celebrating the opening of the office.

We immediately liked each other. A good start.

After a pleasant conversation about various topics, Barbara eventually asked me what I really thought of the ARGO logo. And I — not always known for thinking before I speak — perhaps hoping to eliminate a potential competitor right away, replied: “I was actually going to ask who managed to create this monstrosity. Nothing about it works!”

Boom.

Barbara gave me a rather unusual look — as it turned out, the founders had created the logo themselves, sitting together as a group.

Well… awkward would be an understatement. First contact with a client. A serious foot-in-mouth moment.

I no longer remember exactly how I managed to recover from that. But one thing has remained true throughout our friendship: you’re allowed to miss the mark now and then and still end up liking each other!

In any case, I was later given the opportunity to design a new ARGO logo — and beyond that, to work on many, many exciting graphic projects for ARGO. Always with a professional client who knows exactly what she wants, yet also knows how to listen. That was wonderful.“

When work turns into friendship — that, too, is ARGO!