Rob Janoff

Rob Janoff is an American graphic designer of corporate logos and identities, printed advertisements and television commercials. He is known for his creation of the Apple logo.

In 1977, Janoff worked for Regis McKenna as an art director and was tasked to design the logo for Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, creating an apple with a bite out of it, included so that people did not mistake the apple for a cherry or another fruit. The colored stripes in the logo were to indicate that Apple machines had color screens. Each stripe was printed in its own specially mixed color—at considerable extra expense which Jobs approved because he felt the more vivid colors improved people's emotional response. Rob also created ads and printed materials for Apple. The basic design of his Apple logo is still in use by the company today, but it has had many elements changed along the way. Later he did design work for both IBM and Intel.

Janoff was born and raised in Culver City, California. He obtained his degree from San Jose State University where he initially majored in industrial design. After later realizing that this was not the area of study he was particularly interested in, Janoff then focused on graphic design.

In 1970, upon graduating from San Jose State University, Janoff began working for a number of small Silicon Valley agencies that did work for many prestigious clients. In 1977, he landed a job at Regis McKenna located in Palo Alto, California. Upon his new position working for the company, he was chosen by his creative director, to design the corporate identity package for Apple Computer. Janoff was chosen out of everyone in the company because of his extensive hard work for tech clients. Nobody knew how incredibly successful Apple Computers was to later become. Janoff's logo helped make the complex idea of a home computer seem friendly and approachable. The vibrant, rainbow hues of the logo also highlighted Apple's ability to display a wide variety of colors, something which had not previously been a feature of mass-produced computers.

Janoff later worked for the top agencies established in New York City and Chicago such as Chiat/Day where he designed print, TV advertising and branding for numerous national and international clients.

Over the past six years he has devoted himself to a digital agency with his Australian business partner, Joel Bohm. The company has produced work for a diverse range of clients including Crooz, a gaming company in Japan; Lucas, a large family-owned contracting group in London, as well as Indonesian Developers Agung-Podomoro Land who engaged Janoff to rebrand Pluit City, a man-made island to 10,000 homes in the Jakarta Bay.

More recently Janoff's agency has collaborated with strategic partners like Fiverr in New York to create branding outcomes for companies such as Australian Real Estate entrepreneur and philanthropist Norman Sarraf of Sarraf Strata and the acclaimed academic publisher R. H. Finnegan from Belastier Press, among others.

While residing in Chicago, Rob Janoff travels extensively as part of his work creating branding outcomes for companies across a broad range of industries. He is also a prolific speaker who has delivered keynote addresses and masterclasses in design for universities and academic facilities, including the Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus.