Corporate Identity

This style of design began around the 50's because after the last World War, corporation began to flourish. With all these business's popping up around the nation and in other nations around the world, leaders of these corporations were looking to achieve some sort of identity. Naturally the design world is what helped create corporate identities by focusing on clarity and interesting visual contrast.  "Good design is good business", this quote is exactly the attitude that leaders of many corporations had about designing a mark, or a logo for their business's. Each designer that is mentioned during this period in corporate design creates a personal imprint that is seen throughout all of their designs. Mainly designers were put up to the task of creating a simple image that would also suggest what the company was about by using common everyday symbols in each design. for example Giovanni Pintori was the graphic designer for the Olivetti corporation. This corporation was looking for a technological type of image so Pintori used a collage of numbers with the corporations name creating a simple yet effective design for Olivetti. 

The Columbia Broadcasting System(CBS) was another corporation that was led by someone that understood the need for design when it came to being successful . William Golden was the art director at CBS and was the creator of the famous CBS eye. This image is still used today by CBS because of its simplicity and effectiveness as a corporations mark. Golden was involved with pushing the concept that artists/designers are responsible for ensuring that a message is clearly communicated to the audience. Later on CBS hired a man by the name of Georg Olden who had the daunting task of having to incorporate simple effective design for television. He understood that the limitations were grand, black and white pictures were all that could be used and the image itself would only be on screen for a few seconds so Olden focused on creating images that the audience could quickly comprehend the image. He made sure to achieve the essence of each program by using simple signs and images that the audience could easily relate to. Olden was unique because he marks the first African American designer that was given a corporate job even though it was during a time when the civil rights movement was not in place. 

Overall corporate identities were created so that when a logo was seen the audience would immediately connect the design with the business itself. Corporate identity was not just using a certain symbol or logo, it was about the entire image of the business. The audience began to identify with color schemes, layouts and specific typefaces that would reming the viewer of a certain business. All of these aspects were put together to create a solid corporate image making their business easily recognizable when looking at advertisements. From packaging to the architecture of corporate buildings this period in design still exist today as new corporations arise and old ones search to renew their image. Designers that contributed to corporate imagery understood that sometimes the logo would have to adapt to whatever the advertisement called for. The American designer Rand created the simple IBM logo by using a slab serif typeface unified by horizontal lines. However when it came to the "Eye, Bee, M" advertisement Rand understood that he had to manipulate the original logo in order for that specific advertisement to be successful. Understanding the audience is the biggest aspect in corporate design.

How risky is it for a corporation to abandon a long existing logo in order to re-identify itself?

Are there any examples of recent, drastic logo changes?