# Manhattan Design

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**Manhattan Design** was a graphic design collective in New York City from 1979 until 1991. The studio is known for having designed the [MTV](/source/MTV) logo,[1] as well as album packaging, posters, books, and magazines. They also conceived the adaptation of the MTV "moon man" as the award for the [MTV Video Music Awards](/source/MTV_Video_Music_Awards), based on the original concept by MTV's first creative director, [Fred Seibert](/source/Fred_Seibert), a video that played at the top of every hour of every day for almost four years (75,000 times).[2]

## History

Partners Pat Gorman, Frank Olinsky, and Patti Rogoff met at the [Arica Institute](/source/Arica_Institute), where they worked in the in-house design department. They founded Manhattan Design in 1979, opening their first office in a tiny room in the back of the New York School of T'ai Chi Chuan, on the second floor above [C.O. Bigelow](/source/C.O._Bigelow) Apothecaries, in Greenwich Village.[3]

### MTV logo design

Late in 1980, before the channel had been formally named (it was originally called "The Music Channel" after its sister network, [The Movie Channel](/source/The_Movie_Channel)),[4] MTV creative director [Fred Seibert](/source/Fred_Seibert) approached the team to design the network's logo. He had known Olinsky since childhood, and Olinsky had designed record covers for Seibert's company [Oblivion Records](/source/Oblivion_Records) in 1975. Manhattan Design created hundreds of preliminary designs, but when the 'MTV' name was chosen, partner Gorman sketched out the now familiar "M" in a bold 3-d sans serif, a "new wave" style "TV" was added by Olinsky, and the design was presented to the network. Seibert and partner [Alan Goodman](/source/Alan_Goodman) wanted the "TV" redesigned, and Olinsky took a large version of the "M" into the studio stairwell, spray painted a graffiti-style "TV" on it, and presented it, paint drips and all, to the network.[1][4]

After the logo was approved, the partners were asked to come up with the "corporate colors" for the logo. A revolutionary decision was made: there wouldn't be any corporate colors. The "M" and the "TV" could be made of anything at all. The influence of the MTV logo's chameleon-like look can be seen today.

As a result of their association with MTV, Manhattan Design became highly sought after for all sorts of "hip" design projects, working with such notables as [The B-52s](/source/The_B-52s), [The Cars](/source/The_Cars), [Billy Idol](/source/Billy_Idol), [Duran Duran](/source/Duran_Duran), [R.E.M.](/source/R.E.M.), [Sting](/source/Sting_(musician)), [10,000 Maniacs](/source/10%2C000_Maniacs), [Suzanne Vega](/source/Suzanne_Vega), and others.

## Closing

When Manhattan Design closed up shop in 1991, Patti Rogoff was hired to work in-house for the [MTV Networks](/source/MTV_Networks) Creative Services group, Frank Olinsky went on to become a leading designer of album packages,[5][6] and Pat Gorman became an [acupuncturist](/source/Acupuncturist).

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-MTV_Logo_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-MTV_Logo_1-1) ["MTV Logo Story"](http://www.frankolinsky.com/mtvstory1.html). Frankolinsky.com. Retrieved 2013-12-14.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["More than 75,000 times"](http://frederatorblogs.com/frederator_studios/2009/09/14/942/). Frederatorblogs.com. Retrieved 2013-12-14.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Peter Vidani (1980-05-05). ["MTV: Music Television, The Logo"](http://fredseibert.com/post/68774160/mtv-music-television-the-logo). Fredseibert.com. Retrieved 2013-12-14.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-evolution_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-evolution_4-1) Peter Vidani. ["The evolution of a famous logo"](http://fredseibert.com/post/651602789/the-evolution-of-a-famous-logo). Fredseibert.com. Retrieved 2013-12-14.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["The Frank Olinsky Website"](http://www.frankolinsky.com). Frankolinsky.com. Retrieved 2013-12-14.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Fred Seibert's blog - Frank Olinsky"](http://frederatorblogs.com/frederator_studios/2005/09/25/frank-olinsky/). Frederatorblogs.com.

## External links

- [Official website](http://www.frankolinsky.com/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Manhattan Design](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Design) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Design?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.