Before Class: Chapter Twenty & Twenty-One 4/8/09

1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph: The chapter first starts off with the technology advances made during WWII and how productive capacity turned towards the consumer goods spectrum. The topic of the first section of the reading focused on the change and development of corporate identity. Behrens at AEG was one of the founders of corporate identity along with the Olivetti Corporation. Adriano Olivetti, the son of the founder, Camillo, hired Giovanni Pintori. Pintori design concept was simple, even his most complex designs had a simplicity about them. The design of CBS's corporate identity was the area of concern in the chapter. President Frank Stanton and William Golden came up with the CBS "eye in the sky" design. Golden wanted to get rid of the design but Stanton told him "Just when you're beginning to get bored with what you have done is probably the time it is beginning to be noticed." Georg Olden was the first African-American to achieve prominence as a graphic designer, holding a professional position before the civil-rights movement. He used simple symbolic imagery with strong silhouettes and linear properties because of televisions medium. He also created the hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation stamp. Lou Dorfson became the director of all of CBS after Golden's death. He was originally just director of the radio portion of the company. Paul Rand comes back into play with the corporate identity of IBM, Westinghouse, ABC, and NeXT computer logo. IBM allowed NeXT to use Rand to design their computer logo. Lester Beall created corporate identities for Martin Marietta, Connecticut General Life Insurance, and the International Paper Company. He also set up some guidelines for the corporate-identity manual. A couple other corporate identity designs were talked about that were done by Chermayeff & Geismar Associates (Mobil, NBC, Chase, etc.), Saul Bass (Minolta and AT&T), and Muriel Cooper( Bauhaus and MIT). The rest of the reading focused on the creation of transportation signage symbols, the Olympic Games design system, and the MTV logo.

2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
I really enjoyed learning about Georg Olden, because he was the first African-American to have a high standard job as a graphic design no less, before the civil-rights movement. It shows me that it was possible for people to look beyond race and to work together to make good art and graphic design. I also really liked learning that he was the first African-American to have the honor of designing a stamp for the U.S. Postal Service.

3. State at least one question you have after the reading or from last class.
Why would IBM allow their top designer to create a corporate logo for their rival company,NeXT Computers? Wouldn't that kind of be corporate identity/graphic design suicide?


1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph: After WWII graphic designers saw that the development of conceptual images was needed. Graphic artists had more opportunity for self-expression and created more personal images. During this time the traditional boundaries between the fine arts and public visual communications became quite blurred. Armando Testa created was an abstract painter until after the war then opened a graphic design studio in Turin. Where he impacted the graphic design world with is combination of surrealism and recognizable symbols; his Pirelli tire design and rubber and plastics exhibition poster were two of his most well know designs. After WWII Poland was completely devastated and was in ruin. The first Polish poster artist after WWII was Tadeusz Trepkowski. He expressed the tragic effects of the war and the aspirations for the future with his work, which was very simple, reducing the words and imagery. Henryk Tomaszewski became the spiritual leader of Polish graphic design after Trepkowski's death. The Muzeum Plakatu was established in 1964 devoted exclusively to poster art. The next major trend in Polish posters started in the 1950s and continued until the 1970s; it was darker, more somber, and leaned more towards the metaphysical and surrealist. Franciszek Starowiejski was one of the first to embrace this new style. The next section of the reading was on American conceptual images, and the "death of illustrations" due to photography's expanison. Push Pin Almanack was a printing publication that had freelance assignments which then became Push Pin Studio and which created Push Pin Graphic, an experimental magazine that created an area for new images, ideas, and techniques. Barry Zaid was a young graphic designer who joined Push Pin in the late 1960s until the early 1970s. Zaid was an important force due to the fact that he was a graphic archeologist who based his work on thorough studies of graphic vernacular. He was particularly influential in the revival of art deco’s decorative geometric forms. The last portion of our reading was on third world posters. Posters there became vehicles for challenging authority and power.

2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
One thing that I found really interesting from this chapter was what had happened to Poland during the war and how they worked through it. Everything they had worked towards was destroyed and was in shambles, but were able to come back and have an all new design style. I really liked learning about the changes from the first style to the next and thinking that it changed because of the people feelings towards the regime and wanting autonomy.

3. State at least one question you have after the reading or from last class.
What were the other advances in graphic design during this time in other parts of the world? And in the countries that were mentioned?