Artist launched design career with a "swoosh" by Cynthia O. Stowell Every time a pair of Nike shoes strides by in a foot race, maneuvers on a racquetball court, or strolls across a college campus, the talents of Carolyn Davidson ('71) are on display. As a design student at Portland Stale fifteen years ago, Davidson launched her career with a swoosh-and our visual landscape hasn't been the same since. The Nike swoosh, easily one of the world's most familiar corporate trademarks, keeps a low profile in Davidson's northeast Portland studio. A gold swoosh·shaped ring on the artist's finger offers the only clue to the origin of the international symbol of speed, comfort and good health. II's not Davidson's style to capitalize on her connection with the Beaverton-based athletic shoe company and its logo. "I'd rather get jobs from satisfied clients than knock on doors and flash my work around," said the busy designer, who only in the last few years has begun to "show off" the swoosh that sits quietly in her portfr,lio. And yet, the importance of that first job is not lost on her. "If it hadn't been for Nike, I wouldn't be here," said Davidson, seated at a drafting table so piled with Cultural Tour CUBA June 15-25 An exciting lO-day trip to Cuba, designed exdu§ively for profes.sional§ in the visual and perfOfming arts. We will stay in Havana and Silntiago de Cuba, SO yO\! may pursue research intereslS through: • Cub.macan, Havana's arts school • National Art Museum with one of Cuba's best·known painters • Cuba's first biennial in plastic arts • Old Havana restoration project with the Chief architect and Histori;:m of City of Havana • Cuban Film Institute • lose Marti National library with Director Julio le Riverend These and many mote special opportunities 10 meet and talk with artists and perfOrmel'!i in their homes andSiooim. For complete details, call or write tod<lY: Mel !(au, PSU artist and professor of art, 229·3515, PSU Art Department. P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR 97207. $1425 from Portland PSU Department of Art and Architecture work that it can't be tilted, "Nike started it aiL I still get referrals from people I worked with there," Colleagues often ask Davidson why she doesn't feel any resentmenl for the multi-million dollar corporation that paid her about $35 (she doesn't remember the exact figure) for her design. Her response: "I billed them and they paid it. What can I say? They started me in business and they've been so loyal to me. I can't think of any reason to hold a grudge." "Nike started it all. I sti II get referrals from people I worked with there." - The people at Nike, Inc. have not forgotten the unassuming young art student who helped get the new line of shoes into the running. last fall, Nike president Robert Woodell called Davidson to invite her for lunch - "to talk over old times." Davidson thought to herself, "Isn't it fantaslic that they still know who I am!" When she arrived, she was greeted with a huge buffet, video cameras and a crowd of appreciative people. The artist was presented with a gold and diamond swoosh ring, some stock in the company, and a tongue-in-cheek certificate blaming her for all of Nike's problems. "They didn't have to do that," she said of the surprise recognition. "That's just the kind of guys they are." Good things seem to come Davidson's way, "1guess I've been kind of blessed by sitting in the right place at the right time," she says of the events that shaped her career. She remembers vividly the day at Portland Carolyn Davidson ('71) State when she and a classmate were Sitting in the hall working on an assignment in perspective and accounting teacher Phillip Knight walked by. Davidson was bemoaning the fact that she couldn'! afford to take a class in oil painting, and Knight made a mental note. Shortly after, Davidson received a call from Knight offering her $2 an hour to make signs and charts for use in his Tiger shoe distributorship. Knight soon came to depend on her work, and when he began dreaming about his own shoe, he asked for her help in developing a trademark. The name "Nike," the winged goddess of victory, came to Knight's partner in a dream, and the pair asked Davidson to dream up a trademark that spoke of "speed." Together, they perfected the swoosh design. "And it kind of looks like a wing, doesn't ill" says Davidson, still excited about her creation. The "swoop," as she sometimes calls it before correcting herself, has been one of the most imitated trademarks. "It's exciting to see your design copied," Davidson smiled, quickly adding, "but, you know, some of their staff lawyers work on nothing but copyright infringement." Davidson no longer handles any of Nike's design needs, "They're real Madison Avenue now," she said, matter-of-factly. "And besides, I wouldn't want to think of ways of selling shoes forever." She loves Ihe great variety of her work. From her home studio she has produced murals, signs, catalogs, company identifications, bread labels, greeting cards and wallpaper. There are no big corporate names other than Nike in Davidson'S portfolio, but she stays busy with jobs she gets mainly through printers. "I look around and I see my de5igns," she said with satisfaction, "I don't mind the glory when it comes my way...but I'm more concerned with doing quality work on time rather than beating out the competition. I want to be able to solve a client's problem so that they're happy." When Davidson graduated from Roosevelt High School in Portland, where she wrote for the student newspaper, she had no idea that a career in art lay ahead. At 22, she married Coast Guard officer Neil Davidson (,75 MS) and found herself at the Port Angeles station as the "only officer's wife without kids. When the ships went out, we'd have coffee klatsches and I'd have nothing to talk to them about." Her husband suggested she take some classes and she did, dabbling in political science and ice skating. When Neil enrolled at Portland State to get his masters in psychology, Carolyn started work on her undergraduate degree, still without real direction. Her first course in design - "the empty elective I happened to take" - opened up a new world for the young woman who had never even doodled with any regularity. "A lot of the students I went to school with didn't go into graphic d ~ i g n because they didn't get the break I did," said Davidson sympathetically. She felt they all received excellent instruction from such "great teachers" as Robert Kasal (now head of the art department), Bettye lou Bennett, and Shirley and Orvid Orbeck, "The teachers in the d ~ i g n program hadn't been teaching for forty years and stagnating. They were all current and busy in their own careers," Now, Davidson feels her biggest challenge is to stay as fresh as her instructors were. "I'm trying very hard not to be stale, to keep my thinking current. I don't want someone to point to something and say 'That's a Carolyn Davidson,'" As silent as she's been about her swoosh, she may keep her public guessing for a long time. 7
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