NBMA rolled out its new logo in November 2001, thanks to the efforts of NBMA member and graphic identity designer Jacques Berchten. The editorial board decided this rollout would be a good time to revive the PROfiles column of The Multimedia Reporter — a column we would like to feature several times throughout the year. If you know an NBMA member or two that you’d like to see profiled, send your suggestions to .

Jacques Berchten is a multiple media artist. For over twenty-five years, he has made his living as a graphic designer, commercial and fine arts photographer, museum exhibit designer, and university instructor. He has worked on video and architectural archives and installations at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and has designed exhibits for the Natural History Museum. His photographs and video creations have been featured at New Langton Arts (San Francisco’s gallery of experimental contemporary art), the Art Institute of Chicago, the Diego Rivera Gallery, and many others in the U.S. and Europe. The Kunstmuseum des Kantons Bern, Stiftung fur Fotografie und Video (Art Museum of the State of Bern, Switzerland, Foundation for Photography and Video) includes his work in its permanent collection. But the soft-spoken Swiss native is most passionate when his designs — whether exhibits, logos, or Web sites — are used to create dialogs between people.

Jacques says, “The faster the world communicates, the more we need to care what is communicated, and how it is communicated.” His current business, Jacques Berchten Graphic Identity Design, melds that philosophy with his design talents. That’s why NBMA asked him to create a new logo for the association — one that would reflect its mission and could be used across multiple media types. His tallest order was to create a design that would appeal to nine NBMA board members with diverse preferences and survive the transition to nine new board members before getting full approval. The Swiss, being from a country known for its neutrality, must have an innate ability to facilitate consensus, for Jacques succeeded.

I met Jacques at Le Bateau Ivre, one of his favorite Berkeley cafes (it reminds him of cafes back home, and allows patrons to linger long into the afternoon), to learn more about the man behind the new logo. He was looking forward to spending the next four days in Monterey, where hešd be driving the latest model Audis at an auto industry event at Laguna Seca. I never imagined he would be a car enthusiast, but then again, how could a designer not appreciate German car design? Like German car designers, Jacques combined design talents with his knowledge of physics to create NBMA’s new logo.

He says, “When I first get an assignment, I start thinking of sketches... but I cannot empower an organization that has nothing to do with those sketches.” He remembers getting stuck on the words “North Bay.” “What is that? It could be anything.” He believes, “A successful logo is a visual representation that includes the traditions of the organization and its promise to the world. One is the past, one is the future.”

Jacques created a process that allowed him to gain more insight into the association, so the logo would reflect its core mission. Using a series of exercises, he asked the board to identify NBMA’s uniqueness, something he could manifest in the design. He says, “Focusing the process leaves out a lot of personal preferences.” He was astonished that the process worked with a relatively large group. It made the NBMA logo development a breakthrough project for him. And it gave NBMA the tag line, “Where creativity meets technology.”

NBMA describes itself as an open community of new media professionals. It provides a meeting ground to teach, to learn, to exchange ideas, and to connect with others in the industry. These words reminded Jacques of f’OR, a video-sound installation he once did that included a visual representation of sound waves. “Sound waves have a center. They can be generated and perceived. They have a ripple effect. The wider they get, the more people they reach.”

At the same time, Jacques reflected on the words “meeting ground” and “teaching.” “Teaching and sound waves come together. I started thinking, what were the early forms of teaching? That’s how I got to the Greek theater. With our organization, you have two or more people coming together to exchange ideas... two ripple effects crossing each other: Origin, original action, merging ideas, and perspective.”

And that’s how NBMA’s new logo came to be.

Jacques first came to the U.S. to study photography, video, and film at the San Francisco Art Institute. “I was teaching photography to seminarians (future teachers) at a university in Bern when I decided to study in the U.S. I went to the Consulate to look through school catalogs. When I saw the Mediterranean-style roofs and palm trees in the Institutešs catalog, I knew that’s where I wanted to go,” he confessed.

His next move was to apply for a study grant from the Bernese government. He made up a field of study — Optical Media — that didn’t exist at the Institute, but that adequately described his three interests (add creative grant writing to his list of talents). The government bought the idea, funded his grant, and Jacques was on his way to study in San Francisco with fine arts photographers Jack Fulton, Larry Sultan, and Linda Connor.

Two years later, after earning his Master’s of Fine Arts in photography, he wrote to the grant committee, “I completed photography; now I’m moving on to video.” They bought that idea, too, and Jacques spent the next two years studying with performance/video artists Howard Fried, Paul Kos, Doug Hall, and Marina Abramovic. But when he completed video and sent a request for additional funding, “...now I’m working on film,” he got the reply, “No more.” Soon after, Jacques was on his way to New York, where he set up residence in Brooklyn and worked for the Museum of Modern Art.

He moved back to the Bay Area in 1991, for neither he nor his wife thought New York City was a good place for a family. He set up a sole proprietorship, “Design & Art Associates,” which he ran from a home office in the East Bay — a setup that made it easy to help raise his daughter Miranda.

In 1995, Jacques became an active participant in Albany city politics when he started a campaign to seismically retrofit the schools. More recently, he has been the impetus behind albanyfocus.org, a community Web site for the people of Albany. He gives credit to Craig Newmark, creator of craigslist, for providing advice in developing the site. “The idea is to restore the democratic dialog in the town. City council meetings are attended by people with direct interest in the matters being discussed. The way the meetings are run, a person only has about three minutes to voice an opinion,” Jacques explains. albanyfocus.org opens the discussion to a broader group of people, providing a greater opportunity to examine all sides of an issue. The site, a work-in-progress, is another example of his passion and ideals at work. Graphic identity design is at the center of his professional world, but Jacques is always working to impact the larger design of things with his involvement in the world around him. His work has its own ripple effect, just like the sound waves that inspired NBMA’s logo.

To visit Jacques’ site, click on his logo or go to: www.jberchten.com.