The OC Register January 16th 1992

 The design you'll see on Super Bowl T-shirts, coffee mugs, programs, pins and patches might look like an ordinary logo to you, but so far it has been a ticket to success for Buena Park's Brad Jansen.

Jansen, 37, a graphic designer, set out two years ago to persuade National Football League officials to give him the coveted job of designing the Super Bowl 26 logo, which must be done well in advance because of complicated licensing agreements.

Today, he's a senior art director for the National Football League's creative-services division.

"Designing the logo is something I've wanted to do since the early 1980s, because the whole world sees it," Jansen said. "When you're a graphic designer and design logos, it's the Super Bowl of graphic design. It's seen by everyone in the civilized world, and everyone who sees that game will see a part of me."

In 1989, Jansen called Dave Boss, who at the time was vice president of the NFL creative-services division. He said Boss chooses a different logo designer each year.

"I told him I wanted to design the logo," said Jansen, who at the time was an unknown freelancer. "When he stopped laughing, we set up a 10-minute meeting."

Jansen said he submitted four different designs in an effort to convince Boss that he could do the job. Two weeks later, he sent Boss six more ideas. With 10 designs in hand, he said, Boss was getting the message that Jansen was serious. Eventually, Jansen said, he submitted 22 additional designs -- a total of 32.

Boss eventually gave him the job, and one of his designs became the graphic symbol for this year's game. Jansen said he parlayed that success into a full-time job with the NFL.

"I basically powered my way into the logo job," he said. "I put a lot of energy into it, and I guess that was impressive at a number of levels of NFL management."