Connecticut-based graphic designer and illustrator Peter Good has died.
During a career that spanned more than 50 years, Good, along with his wife, artist Janet Cummings Good, created hundreds of lasting — and now iconic — logos for corporations, institutions and nonprofits.
In Connecticut alone, you can see Good’s work for the Mark Twain House and Museum, the University of Connecticut oak leaf, The Kate in Old Saybrook, the Wadsworth Atheneum, and many more.
Good's family confirmed his death with Connecticut Public. Good died Tuesday at his home in Chester. He was 80.
One of Good’s most recognizable works was the logo he designed for the Hartford Whalers hockey team. In 1979, the New England Whalers of the old World Hockey Association were absorbed into the NHL, and Good was chosen to create a new logo. Merchandise with Good’s logo on it is still popular, despite the fact that the Whalers relocated to North Carolina in 1997.
“It is sort of remarkable that the team has been gone for a long time and it still seems like a really strong part of the local culture, which, I think, speaks to a few things,” said journalist Paul Lukas, who writes about sports uniforms and logos. “Not the least of which is the real strength of that logo that they had. The whale’s tale and the ‘W’ and then the white ‘H’ forming out of the negative space. It’s one of these clever little design devices that sneaks up on you.”
Good also designed the old logo for Connecticut Public’s talk show “Where We Live.”
Speaking on "Where We Live" in 2013, Good talked about the challenges of creating an institutional logo, like UConn’s oak leaf.
“You have tradition, you have the need for novelty, the need for marketing, so there’s so many forces that come into play,” Good said. “Every logo that we’ve ever done has stories about conflicts with administration, with audiences and so forth, and you try to somehow work within all of those challenges to create something that’s workable.”
