John Casado

John Charles Casado (born May 30, 1944) is an American graphic designer, artist and photographer, best known for designing logos for the first Macintosh computer, Esprit, and New Line Cinema, as well as numerous album covers for the Doobie Brothers, Carole King, and others.

Early life and education Casado was born in East Los Angeles, California. He graduated from Dorsey High School in Los Angeles and then went to the University of California at Los Angeles. He graduated from The Art Center School in Los Angeles, now located in Pasadena and called the Art Center College of Design, in 1964.

Career Advertising and design Because Casado's father was an advertising art director beginning in the early '50s, he knew a lot about the business of advertising and design. Before graduating from the Art Center, he was already teaching their beginning class in advertising. Upon graduating, he went to New York to find his first job as an art director. He ended up in Los Angeles, becoming advertising art director for Young & Rubicam. Casado knew from his father's experience in advertising that there was no loyalty in the profession, so he would change jobs often. Casado had the opportunity to meet many of the best designers in Los Angeles when he was young because they were friendly with his father. Among the many were: Saul Bass, Charles Eames, Jim Cross, Louis Danzinger and Ken Parkhurst.

In 1966, Casado left advertising to work for Saul Bass Design. During that time, he also created a Warner Bros. Records sampler album, featuring Frank Zappa, which replicated a blister package of baloney making the three records inside baloney color. He designed many posters, including for Deep Purple, The Allman Brothers Band's Eat a Peach album, and Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead. Casado also designed the history of film music for Warner Brothers. In 1981, he moved to San Francisco, focused primarily on corporate work. Often referred to as the "Picasso logo", its style was actually inspired by Matisse.

Photography In 1988, Casado became a professional photographer, shooting advertising and fashion photographs. His photographs have been in exhibits at galleries across the United States, and some of his photographs are in the permanent collection at the New Orleans Museum of Art.