About

The Principal

Nathan Savage resides in Oregon with his wife and two children, and serves as the head of the Graphic Design Program at Portland Community College. Prior to moving to the Pacific Northwest, Nathan worked for a decade in NYC developing creative solutions at Red Herring Design. Some of this work can still be seen in book stores, juke boxes, television sets, and a line of womens footwear sold at Target stores.

As a graphic design educator, Nathan is dedicated to preparing future designers for creative careers in a highly competitive market. His foundational training from Texas State University earned him a BFA in Communication Design, a summer internship with the New York office of Pentagram, and 25 design awards including “Best Portfolio” from both the Art Directors Club of Houston and the Dallas Society of Visual Communication. He regularly instructs courses in Graphic Design Portfolio, Editorial Design, and Brand Identity. His classroom teaches students that good design is in the details and talent can only thrive when supported by hard work.

In addition to having brand identity and typographic work published in a couple issues of Communication Arts, his music package designs have been the primary graphic influence behind the platinum selling Ken Burns Jazz collection and a Grammy nominated boxed set for SONY Music. He continually pesters his students about typography.

The Pilcrow

The icon chosen for Principal Type's logo traces its origins to early typography. Before the use paragraphs, a symbol at the end of a sentence was used to indicate further elaboration of a written concept. Over time it developed into a pilcrow and became used for paragraph returns.

Whether scattered throughout an authors words or structuring a programmers code, the pilcrow remains invisible. This hidden character (signifying the beginning of another line of thought) aligns with Principal Type’s educational focus.

Inspired by foundational design principles, the mark can be easily replicated using Franklin Gothic Extra Condensed, three squares, and a circle.