posted 11-06-2023 04:00 PM               

NASA dedicates giant 'worm', honors logo designer Richard Danne

Nearly 50 years after it was first introduced, just over 30 years since it was unceremoniously retired and only three years after making its triumphant return, NASA honored the designer behind its retro-cool, sometimes controversial but now seemingly universally loved logotype.

Richard Danne, who in 1975 gave birth to the "worm" — as the simple, red type style of the word "NASA" has come to be known — was invited back to NASA's headquarters in Washington D.C. on Monday (Nov. 6) for a panel discussion about the mark's legacy and to be awarded NASA's Exceptional Public Achievement Medal. The agency also dedicated a large three-dimensional sign in the shape of the worm to Danne and two others who created the worm and first put it into use.

posted 01-06-2025 12:05 PM               

The new symbol, reproduced here, incorporates the letters of the NASA acronym, with letters stylized and reduced to their simplest forms. The single width of the letters is designed to give a feeling of unity and technological precision to the symbol. The curves of the letters represent fluidity and continuity from a design point of view. The "As" are used without their cross-strokes to give a feeling of vertical thrust.

That stationery displayed the new NASA logotype and it would be the first time they were informed of the graphics program and image change.