WE DON'T KNOW WHY THEY LISTEN (SO MUCH)

William Golden & Leo Lionni

9.25 x 7.75 hardcover book with 36 pages and 16 illustrations and a 8.5 x 2.5 Leo Lionni illustrated sticker. A first rate designer and illustrator servicing radio at the height of its reach. Radio's not what it once was, but this promotion's copy, design and illustrations remain timeless.

A classic piece of early American Corporate Identity Design from one of the acknowledged masters of the form, produced for CBS before the development of the iconic CBS Eye. REFERENCES: Cipe Pineles Golden; Kurt Weihs; Robert Strunsky: THE VISUAL CRAFT OF WILLIAM GOLDEN.NYC: George Braziller, Inc. 1962, and AIGA, Steven Heller, R. Roger Remington, Ellen Lupton, Karrie Jacobs (Writers), and Anthony Russell (Designer): AIGA GRAPHIC DESIGN USA 10. New York: Watson-Guptill, 1989.

From DesignArchiveOnline: Born in Amsterdam, Leo Lionni (1910-1999) was trained as an economist in Italy from 1931-1935. He began his career in graphic designin 1933 as an art director for Motta, an Italian food supplier. In 1939, he emigrated to the US and began work as an art director for N.W. Ayer advertising agency, where he stayed until 1947. In 1949, Lionni succeeded Will Burtin as art director of Fortune magazine . . . Lionni was co-editor of Print magazine from 1950-1951 and in 1961 resigned his position as art director of Fortune.

William Golden (1911 - 1959) is considered to be one of the pioneers of American graphic design. He is best known for his work at Columbia Broadcasting System, starting in the CBS Radio promotion department (before broadcast television existed) and culminating in his tenure as creative director of advertising and sales promotion for CBS Television Network. Golden gained a reputation of excellence by always striving for a perfect, simple solution to the problem at hand, producing an original and distinguished design to convey the message.

In 1937, Golden joined the promotion department at CBS, where he worked for three years before being promoted to art director. Golden's design program went beyond the promotion of CBS as a radio network, producing advertisements that helped to define radio as a news medium. His ads emphasized the ability of radio to bring historic events to its audience in a way no other medium could at that time. Golden took a leave of absence in 1941 to join the Office of War Information in Washington, D.C. In 1943, he entered the U.S. Army as a private, and served in Europe as art director of army training manuals. He was discharged from the military in 1946 with the rank of captain.

Golden returned to CBS as television was growing to become the dominant medium of communication in America. The time was ripe to define a visual style that would identify CBS to its viewers, and William Golden was the chief architect of the CBS identity. His efforts led CBS to a level of visual elegance that reflected the extraordinary taste and intelligence of the corporate leadership and, ultimately, the viewers of CBS. Toward this end, Golden employed the Didot typeface to use as the main type style for CBS promotional materials. Since the typeface was not extensively available in the United States at that time, CBS staff designers George Lois and Kurt Weihs were assigned the task of "Americanizing" the font, redrawing every character in the font from an enlargement that Golden provided to them.

Golden helped to shape corporate decisions, constantly pushing the executives to spend more on advertising the shows that demonstrated CBS's respect for good theater, good music, and good news analysis ‹ programs that highlighted CBS's reputation as a responsible company. Although he was offered the position of vice president in charge of advertising and sales promotion at CBS, Golden chose to remain the creative director of advertising and sales promotion, preferring to keep firm control of the creative aspects of the CBS image rather than moving into a more administrative role.

Golden's work ethic set an entirely new standard for American design, as he developed, directed, and sustained the visual program at CBS. During his tenure as creative director for advertising and sales promotion, all of the ads, promotional materials, and other corporate design projects were of a consistently high aesthetic quality, despite Golden's own belief that the business and marketing objectives were always of highest importance, and aesthetic quality was secondary to these objectives. At the height of his career, Golden's life ended abruptly at the age of 48; he died of a heart attack on October 23, 1959.

Spreads from this volume can be viewed here.

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