Jeri Heiden

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Jeri Heiden is American graphic designer, born in New Jersey. Starting her career as Jeri McManus, later working as Jeri McManus Heiden, then simply Jeri Heiden (after marrying industry peer John Heiden), Ms. Heiden's considerable career achievement afforded her the chance to be cited on album covers, single sleeves, cassette inserts, cd booklets and slip cases for over 300 album campaigns for some of the most famous recording artists in history.

The most defining body of her work would be done for Warner Bros. in the years 1982-1995, and most noticeably the releases of Madonna, Steve Winwood, kd lang, Van Halen and a-ha (among scores of other famed artists). Ms. Heiden's hand-written script is likely in close proximity to the autographs of Marilyn Monroe and Walt Disney amongst the most viewed examples of handwriting in history. Starting with album and single covers for Scritti Politti and Steve Winwood and extending to the titles of A-ha and Madonna (all issued on Warner Bros. Records/WEA where she would eventually hold the office of Vice President of Creative Services).

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[edit] Heiden's handwritten style

Heiden honed the script as a personal trademark (and one that came to represent the WEA labels as well). It is among the most rare examples of an artist using an inherently personal and imperfect distinguishing motif in such a way. It has represented numerous parties, loosely bound the visual profile of a corporate entity whose most unifying factor was a simple set of exclusive contracts on artists (but did not appear to include the artist responsible for the creation of the trademark), and would perhaps identify the artist herself the least amidst the overall web of relationships. It is unclear if Ms. Heiden was under contract with Warner Bros., but what is known is that her script would go with her and show up later on projects by non-WEA artists (when she was working at A&M records as Vice President - most noticeably on Sheryl Crow and Sting recordings). Educated at Pepperdine University and Art Center College of Design, she successfully forged one of the most prolific and high-profile careers within her already high-profile industry. Over the course of her 25 year career she has won numerous recognitions within her industry, the most visible of which would be her 3 NARAS (Grammy) nominations for album package design.

[edit] Jeri and John

Eventually, the former Ms. McManus would distinguish herself to the point that she would have only one obvious North American-based equal within their particular niche of the industry (John Heiden). She married him (they had met in high school). Both had worked under Warner Bros. Records art chief Jeff Ayeroff, and the two had collaborated on occasion. They now work together in SMOG (a design company founded by John) and continue to provide high-profile graphics for artists including Sheryl Crow and Brandy. A review of their joint portfolios is a sweeping and vast compendium of popular music in the last 3 decades, including all artists mentioned above (further notable artists include but are not limited to Seal, Cher, Sting, Tracy Chapman, Los Lobos, The Eagles, Pink, Janet Jackson, Jewel, and Van Halen). Ms. Heiden resides in California and has both taught and lectured within her field.

[edit] Note

It is impossible to measure the number of people who have viewed Ms. Heiden's handwriting, and such study will involve an intensive review of the sales figures, the profile of the artists involved (most are cited above), the fact that many of these copies were displayed prominently in nearly all of the music retailing establishments, the fact that these recordings were marketed in this packaging throughout the Western World and Japan (including print advertising often designed by Heiden herself and online marketing using the package and ad imagery), and the fact the each purchased copy was surely viewed by more than one person. The suggested figures support the idea of hundreds of millions of individuals (if not more than a billion). Ms. Heiden's script began as a free flowing and easy form of expression in an often rigid and typeset medium. Soon artists were requesting it for their packaging, and she has had several fonts made of her writing to ease its use in body text design. Similar in this regard (and after Heiden's first usages) was musician Sinead O'Connor's use of her personal handwriting on the packagin for her works. Like Heiden, O'Connor eventually had her handwriting made into a font for use on the text of her albums. The critical difference is that Heiden's hand-lettering has represented scores of recording artist's, while O'Connor's has served to identify her own works.

[edit] Sources

Information not readily apparent has been supported by a professional bio issued by SMOG design, Inc.

[edit] Notable Album/CD/Cassette covers by McManus-Heiden:

[edit] Links

  • SMOG design, where Jeri serves as co-creative director with John:http://www.smogdesign.com/home.html
  • Interview with Jeri and John about working with Madonna, also contains information about both's careers:http://madonname.com./newshtml/2006/johnandjerinterviewhome.htm (note to Madonna fans, this page contains a photograph of the Holy Grail of Madonna memorabilia: the Martin Burgoyne-designed cover for the intended Lucky Star album. John Heiden had helped Martin with the production of test copies of the jacket - which was rejected by Madonna).
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