“To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.” George MacDonald
If you don’t know or haven’t guessed, Charles Boyd is my father. Even though my parents divorced when I was very young, my father kept in touch wherever he lived. When I was in high school, he became the parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership in Fort Worth, Texas. Since he was living closer to my home in Arlington, this allowed me to strengthen my relationship with him, my stepmother and half-siblings. In early 1974, he moved to Oklahoma City to open Boyd Chevy Town (later rebranded Boyd Chevrolet). Shortly after his move, while studying graphic communication at UTArlington, I designed the dealership’s logo and stationery.
Logo designed in 1974 while still at university.
In the fall of 1978, during my third semester at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, I left school and moved my young family to Oklahoma to work as a graphic designer at the dealership. The move (and increased income) was necessary to pay off recent medical bills before finishing my training as a youth minister. My goal was to pay off the debts, save some money and return to seminary in two years. I would eventually understand that graphic design was my true calling.
Within months on the job, I realized there wasn’t enough design work to fully occupy my time, so with my father's encouragement I went on retainer with the dealership and began freelancing. For the next 22 years, I maintained a studio at the dealership—off and on—with a variety of financial arrangements until my father retired and sold the dealership in 2001.
My father was always the greatest champion of my work. Right off the bat, he recommended me to his church and the company that supplied the dealership’s promotional items. While on the board of directors of First National Bank of Yukon, Oklahoma, he put forth my name to handle their advertising, which I did in the early 1980s.
Over the years, I completed countless projects of every kind for the dealership. These included painting a wall mural of an eagle, designing a lighted display map of the facility, and writing, editing and designing a company newsletter. I even wrote a jingle for the dealership. Besides Boyd Chevrolet, my father owned other dealerships across Oklahoma: Wicker Chevrolet in Wagner, McConville Chevrolet & Oldsmobile in Tishomingo and Quality Chevrolet & Geo in Yukon. I completed work for them, as well as other enterprises.
Letterhead in 1978 with redesigned logo.
The Boyd Bird was the dealership mascot and was initially used on promotional items such as T-shirts, bumper stickers and billboards.
The dealership was rebranded using an eagle in 1980 after moving to larger facilities at 5000 W. Reno. This letterhead won a design award from Kimberly Clark Paper. Pictured: first and second sheet.
As part of the eagle rebranding, I wrote a jingle that was produced at Rosewood Sound in Dallas. I sang on the demo, but it never went into final production. It was decided to cage the eagle and bring back the Boyd Bird. To hear the demo, click on the music score.
Due to popular demand from employees and customers (“Where’s the Boyd Bird?! We loved the Boyd Bird!!”), the Boyd Bird returned and supplanted the eagle on stationery and advertising.
Front and back cover of the employee manual.
My father was a huge OU fan, providing transportation for the football and basketball teams and advertising in their programs. This is from a 1984 basketball program.
The Challenger was a monthly employee newsletter produced for seven years beginning in August 1984. This is part of a hardbound book commemorating its first five years.
Cover of Boyd Leasing brochure
Graphics from 1989 promoting the 15th anniversary of Boyd Chevrolet.
Letterhead for two other dealerships owned by Charles Boyd. McConville used the tagline “South Central Oklahoma’s Automotive Supermarket.” Some of the stationery and promotional materials were printed on Kraft paper to resemble grocery sacks.
Logo for automotive parts distributor
Clients and projects acquired through the influence of Charles Boyd
First National Bank of Yukon
Newspaper ads created for First National Bank of Yukon in the early 1980s.
Travel-Tours, Inc. of Oklahoma
Logos created in 1980 for a bus touring company in Wagner, Oklahoma.
My father passed away in 2003, but his trust in me set my career on solid ground and helped me to trust myself and my abilities.