20 Corporate Identity and Visual Systems

20 Corporate Identity and Visual Systems The technological advances made during World War II were immense. After the war, productive capacity turned toward consumer goods, and many believed that the outlook for the capitalist economic structure could be unending economic expansion and prosperity. With this bright view of the future in mind, “Good design is good business” became a rallying cry in the graphic design community during the 1950s. Prosperity and technological development appeared closely linked to the era’s increasingly important corporations, and the more perceptive corporate leaders comprehended the need to develop a corporate image and identity for diverse audiences. Design was seen as a major way to shape a reputation for quality and reliability. Visual marks had been used for identification for centuries. In medieval times, proprietary marks were compulsory and enabled the guilds to control trade. By the 1700s virtually every trader and dealer had a trademark or stamp. The Indus- trial Revolution, with its mass manufacturing and marketing, increased the value and importance of trademarks for visual identification. But the visual identification systems that began during the 1950s went far beyond trademarks or symbols. The national and multinational scope of many corporations made it difficult for them to maintain a cohesive image, but by unifying all communications from a given organization into a consistent design system, such an image could be projected, and the design system enlisted to help accomplish specific corporate goals. Pintori at Olivetti The first phase in the development of postwar visual identification resulted from pioneering efforts by strong individual 20–1 designers who put their personal imprint on a client’s designed image. This was the case with Behrens at AEG (see chapter 12) and with the Olivetti Corporation, an Italian typewriter and business machines company whose dual commitment to humanist ideals and technological progress dated from its 20–1. Giovanni Pintori, Olivetti poster, 20–3. Giovanni Pintori, poster for the 1908 founding by Camillo Olivetti. Adriano Olivetti (1901–70), 1949. Olivetti’s products are sug- Olivetti 82 Diaspron, c. 1958. A sche- son of the founder, became president in 1938. He had a keen gested by a mélange of numbers. matic diagram depicting a typewriter sense of the contribution that graphic, product, and architec- key’s mechanical action combines with tural design could make to an organization. In 1936 he hired 20–2. Giovanni Pintori, poster for a photograph to communicate two twenty-four-year-old Giovanni Pintori (1912–1998) to join the the Olivetti Elettrosumma 22, 1956. levels of information. publicity department. For thirty-one years, Pintori put his per- An informal structure of cubes and sonal stamp on Olivetti’s graphic images. The logotype he de- numerals suggests the mathemati- 20–4. Giovanni Pintori, poster for signed for Olivetti in 1947 consisted of the name in lowercase cal building process that takes place the Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter, sans-serif letters, slightly letterspaced. Identity was achieved when this calculating machine is used. 1952. The design playfully implies not through a systematic design program but through the the movement of the typing ﬁ ngers. general visual appearance of promotional graphics. 21_9780470168738-ch20.indd 412 9/9/11 8:50 PM Design at CBS 413 20–2 20–3 20–4 In one of Pintori’s most celebrated posters (Fig. 20–1) Golden designed one of the most successful trademarks Olivetti’s mission is subtly implied by a collage created solely of the twentieth century for CBS (Fig. 20–5). When the from numbers and the company logo. Pintori’s ability to pictographic CBS eye first appeared as an on-air logo on 16 generate graphic metaphors for technological processes is November 1951, it was superimposed over a cloud-filled sky shown in a 1956 poster for the Olivetti Elettrosumma 22 (Fig. and projected an almost surreal sense of an eye in the sky. 20–2). There is a casual and almost relaxed quality to Pintori’s After one year, Golden suggested to Frank Stanton that they organization of space. Even his most complex designs have might abandon the eye and seek another logo. Stanton re- a feeling of simplicity, because he is able to combine small minded Golden of the old advertising adage, “Just when you’re elements into unified structures through a repetition of size beginning to get bored with what you have done is probably and visual rhythms. This complexity of form was well suited the time it is beginning to be noticed by your audience.” The to Olivetti’s publicity needs during the 1940s and 1950s, for eye remained. In applying this trademark to the corporation’s the firm sought a high-technology image to promote advanced printed material, from shipping labels to press releases, care industrial design and engineering. Pintori was particularly and concern were used in even the most modest graphic adept at using simplified graphic shapes to visualize mecha- designs. Dogmatic consistency in how the CBS trademark was nisms and processes (Fig. 20–3). His abstract configurations used was not considered necessary. It was used in print with often playfully suggest the function or purpose of the product a variety of different company signatures, and Golden and being advertised (Fig. 20–4). Olivetti received international his staff avoided forcing it where it did not belong. Even in recognition for its commitment to design excellence. printed advertising, it was sometimes omitted if it conflicted with the rest of the design. The effectiveness of the CBS Design at CBS symbol demonstrated to the larger management community The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) of New York City that a contemporary graphic mark could compete successfully moved to the forefront of corporate identity design as a result with more traditional illustrative or alphabetic trademarks. of two vital assets: CBS president Frank Stanton (1908–2006), A corporate philosophy and approach to advertising who understood art and design and their potential in corpo- emerged in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Advertising was rate affairs, and William Golden (1911–59), the CBS art direc- created not by an outside agency but by internal staff; this tor for almost two decades. Golden brought uncompromising permitted CBS to maintain a unified approach to advertising visual standards and keen insight into the communications and other graphics. Fine artists including Feliks Topolski, process. The effectiveness of the CBS corporate identity did René Bouche, and Ben Shahn were commissioned to create not depend on a regimented design program or application of illustrations for CBS advertisements. The climate of creative specific graphic elements, such as a single corporate typeface, freedom encouraged them to accept these commissions and to all corporate communications. Rather, the quality and resulted in a high level of artistry compared to typical news- intelligence of each successive design solution enabled CBS paper and trade publication advertisements of the period. A to establish an ongoing and successful corporate identity. classic example of this approach is “The Big Push” (Fig. 20–6), 21_9780470168738-ch20.indd 413 9/9/11 8:50 PM 414 Chapter 20: Corporate Identity and Visual Systems 20–5 20–6 20–5. William Golden, CBS Television which appeared in business and advertising trade publica- trademark, 1951. Two circles and tions during a booming economy. The text says Americans two arcs form a pictographic eye. will purchase more than in any other summer in history and Translucent and hovering in the sky, recommends television advertising during this big summer it symbolizes the awesome power of sales push. Shahn’s drawing adds an ambience of quality and projected video images. distinction to the commercial message. In a 1959 lecture at a design conference, Golden called 20–6. William Golden (designer) and upon designers to have a sense of responsibility and a rational Ben Shahn (illustrator), trade ad for understanding of the function of their work. He declared the CBS Television, 1957. Textured shop- word design a verb “in the sense that we design something to ping carts and text type unify into a be communicated to someone” and added that the designer’s horizontal band. This tonal complexity primary function is ensuring that the message is accurately contrasts with a bold headline in the and adequately communicated. white space above and the staccato Stanton’s recognition of the importance of design helped repetition of the black wheels below. designers gain executive and administrative authority. In 1951 Golden was named creative director in charge of advertising 20–7. Georg Olden, stamp for the and sales promotion for the CBS Television Network. centenary of the Emancipation In 1945 CBS hired Georg Olden (1920–75) to establish a Proclamation, 1963. Olden reduced a graphics department to design on-air visuals for its new televi- complex subject, slavery’s end, to its sion division. Television was a fledgling medium poised to most elemental expression. grow rapidly in the next few years. Only about ten thousand television sets were in use when wartime restrictions on their 20–8. Lou Dorfsman (designer) and manufacture were lifted in 1946; this number grew rapidly to Andy Warhol (illustrator), program ad a million sets in 1949 and soared past the fifty-million mark for CBS Radio, 1951. The open, direct when Olden left CBS to become television group art director presentation is typical of Dorfsman’s at BBDO Advertising in 1960. During his fifteen-year tenure work. at CBS, Olden played a major role in defining the early development of television broadcast graphics. 20–9. Lou Dorfsman, advertisement Olden realized the limitations of early black-and-white for a program series, 1968. The com- television. The medium was incapable of differentiating bination of images carried tremen- between subtle color and tonal contrasts, and television sets dous shock value, gaining viewers for often markedly cropped the edges of the signal.

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