CLIFF COOPER ExPLAINS THE ORANGE GRAPHICS
“Igot the idea for graphic symbols
on our amplifiers when I
noticed the new road signs
which suddenly appeared
in the late 1960s. Instead
of words, the signs used
graphic symbols. In 1971, I
suggested to the team that,
instead of using words,
we should use our own
custom symbols. I wanted
us to keep one step ahead.
Years later, when we started
manufacturing again in the
1990s [Ed. note: Orange’s
main manufacturing opera-
tion closed in 1979, though a
limited number of amps were
built on a custom-order basis.
In the early to mid 1990s,
Gibson also built Orange
amps under license until
Cliff Cooper returned to head
the company in 1998.], we
decided to keep the graph-
ics—these hieroglyphs were
now a part of the brand.
“The Orange logo on our
amps is now near perfect,
whereas if you look at the
original logo, it was hand
drawn. The reason for this is
simple—there weren’t com-
puters in those days, and
you had to engage an art-
ist to draw it using French
Curves (as shown below).”
