JENNIFER LONG: A Designing Woman In Every Way

JENNIFER LONG: A Designing Woman In Every Way

By Leonard Shapiro

From her cozy third-floor Middleburg office, Jennifer Long has a birds-eye view of a classic American small town from where she continues to produce fabulous brands for some of the nation’s most well-known companies and sparkly celebrities.

It was Long, a native Californian and founder of Long Design, who created the original logo for Oprah Winfrey’s long-time television show. She retooled eBay’s website after it went public years ago and has handled the design for IBM’s annual report among several Fortune 500 companies.

Jennifer Long in her Middleburg office.

Photo by Leonard Shapiro

She’s passionate about her work and finds time to give back, serving as vice chair for the Middleburg Arts Council and branding popular village events like Oktoberfest, Art in the Burg, and a Dickens Christmas.

“I have several local clients, too,” she said. “Some are in start-up mode, some high tech. Right now, I’m working on a brand in the aerospace/defense field. I’m designing their logo and launch materials, including their business system, PowerPoint deck, and website. It’s about developing a family of graphic elements that always begins with the logo. Then, applying that logo to various media needs a consistent look and feel, critical to a strong brand.”

Long’s career started in the late 1980s after earning a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Arizona. Then, at 21, she headed to New York City, taking her portfolio and considerable skills.

After three years, she returned to the Bay Area for graduate studies at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. There were plenty of offers when she finished, and at age 26, she ended up at an award-winning Dallas boutique advertising and design firm. After a non-stop year of grueling 6 1/2 work weeks, Long was hired away by the prestigious Pentagram Design in New York.

By 1991, Long was ready to go out on her own and opened Long Design in San Francisco. Her big break came when she got a call from Mike Wilson, one of the founders of eBay.

“He said he needed help with a press release because they were going public,” Long recalled. “Then I re-designed their website. It was a great experience, and I loved the energy of the start-up environment. One success led to another, and I kept getting more opportunities, especially with logo design and branding. I always liked being part of the core executive team, working right alongside them.”

In ‘98, she moved the business to nearby Palo Alto, where her parents had a home, and start-ups were booming.

Her father served as an assistant agriculture secretary during the Nixon-Ford Administration, and Long attended the Madeira school near Washington. Her older sister, Patty Jarvis, and her family were already living in the Middleburg area, so she became s a frequent visitor. Then, she decided to take another leap back across the country to Middleburg in 2012.

“I wanted to raise my two boys (Sawyer, now 23, and 19-year-old Alden) where the community knows your name. It’s a great place to grow up—the nature, wildlife, the horses.”

And these days, the business is thriving, despite its small-town location.

“People are finding me here,” she said, “and I love what I do. It’s great to create a visual face of someone’s life work. It’s a true honor and a tremendous responsibility. I take the work very seriously. Everyone is invested in the experience, and I like that.”