Randall Johnson, creator of Washington State University’s famous Cougar-head logo, died Feb. 16, 2007, in Spokane, where he had lived since 1940. He was 91-years-old.
As a WSU student, Johnson designed the logo in July 1936 at the request of Fred G. Rounds, architect and Building and Grounds director of what was then Washington State College. “He authorized me to see what I could think up, maybe incorporating the Cougar head shape,” Johnson remembered. He used the letters W, S and C to form a Cougar-head. Once approved by college administration, its first use was when it was painted on the door of a new college truck.
In 1959, when the college became a university, Johnson revised the logo at the request of President C. Clement French. The “C” on the logo became a “U.” In that year, for a token $1, Johnson signed over creative rights for the Cougar-head logo to the university. As a result, WSU has earned millions of dollars from licensing it for various uses.
In 2000, WSU created a new graphic identity. It includes an “academic signature” with the Cougar-head logo within a crest, an internationally recognized symbol for higher education. The freestanding Cougar-head logo, without the crest, is used by WSU Athletics and the university’s Office of Alumni Relations.
After completing his degree in fine arts in 1938, Johnson went on to become advertising director for the Washington Water Power Co. He held the position for 38 years, with time out for military service during World War II. He retired in 1978.
Over his life, Johnson, who always said he was “proud to be a Cougar,” received a variety of honors, including a WSU Alumni Achievement Award in 1979. A university scholarship in his name was endowed in 1992 by the WSU Alumni Association and the Spokane Cougar Club. The Johnsons and his wife, Jeanne, a 1941 WSU graduate, became WSU Benefactors in 1997.
He was a native of Washington’s Whitman County. Johnson was born March 2, 1915, in LaCrosse and raised there and in Washtucna, Walla Walla and Pullman. He graduated from Pullman High School in 1933.
In addition to his wife, Johnson is survived by five children, three of whom are WSU graduates.
Related articles on Johnson and the Cougar-head logo are available at
https://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Obit_Johnson.html
https://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/21302
https://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/21288
http://wsunews.wsu.edu/detail.asp?StoryID=607
https://wsunews.wsu.edu/detail.asp?StoryID=1573
