Emily Oberman is a designer whose work mainly focuses on brand identity, publications and advertising and websites. Born and raised in New York, she studied design and film making at Cooper Union as a way to combine her love for acting and design. After graduated she went on to work for design studio M&Co, collaborating with Tibor Kalman. It was there she was able to develop her love for motion graphics within television and using them for storytelling. Oberman was the first designer for clothing company Benettons magazine, Colors. In 1993, she also helped cofound the design studio “Number Seventeen” which coincidentally ran for 17 years before becoming a partner of Pentagram in 2012.
https://youtu.be/LIdFa1qLgNQ?si=VZ3YWXExJ1TWr9L9
Throughout the years she has worked on projects in many different areas such as for hotels, restaurants and non profit organisations but arguably some of her best known work is for clients in the film and TV industry. Emily worked alongside NBC Universal creating brand identities for "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" and "Saturday Night Live” as well as branding and title sequences for shows such as Tina Fey’s “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”. When listening to The Logo Geek podcast episode which featured Oberman, they discussed the enjoyment she gets from working on title sequences such as SNL as every few years they get to redesign the title sequence and are met with the task of taking the same thing but being able to present it in a different way.
A project of Obermans which really interests and stands out for me is the brand identity for the movie franchise “Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them”. As a fan of Harry Potter I think it is so important that the look and feel of the identity fits in with the Harry Potter franchise and reflects the magic of the wizarding world. This franchise has stemmed from books and movies into stage plays, theme parks, products and exhibitions and it is so important that this identity can be used for all these different branches. Emily Oberman and her team at Pentagram were able to create an identity that connects Fantastic Beasts with Harry Potter perfectly.
It was actually really interesting to read up on as I did not realise that the fanned book within the logo is actually 9 wands which belong to 9 of the most beloved wizarding world characters; Voldemort, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore, Newt Scamander, Tina Goldstein, Queenie Goldstein, and young Gellert Grindelwald.
A hidden detail which only fans would get is that Albus Dumbledores wand, the Elder Wand which is the most powerful wand is positioned in the centre. The logo really reflects the evolution of the wizarding world with the wands being taken from both Harry Potter and Fantastic Beast franchises which creates a real branch between the two.
The typeface they created named “Harry Beast” alongside type designer Jeremy Mickel brings together both franchises with details such as the attributes of the creatures, Harrys lightning bolt scar and is displayed in gold to reflect the light of sunrise and give it a magical feel but also works well alongside the silver Harry Potter logo.
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The identity they created really reflects the franchise well and has taken all the important elements of both franchises which reflects the work of JK Rowling perfectly as well as being an identity that is adaptable for new movies but also for merchandising but also can be applied to adaptions such as experiences and theatre. For me I think the typography is a perfect balance between not being too beasty that it is hard to read or doesn’t reflect the wizarding world but also isn’t so plain that it has no expression to it.
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