TM: TRADEMARKS/USA 1945 - 1963

Society of Typographic Arts, Lester Beall [essay]

Black slipcase contains 16 [8.5" x 8.5"] 4-panel sheets, 25 [8.5" x 8.5"] loose sheets and a 56-page [8.5" x 8.5"] perfect-bound booklet. From the introduction: "193 American trademarks, symbols and logotypes were chosen by a jury of leaders in the field of design to be represented in Trademarks/USA, the first national retrospective exhibition of its kind, which opened April 22, 1964 at the National Design Center in Marina City, Chicago, under the auspices of the Society of Typographic Arts."

An amazing document that chronicles the rise of the American trademark after World War II, and by extension the graphic design profession as well.

Jury members included Lester Beall, Charles Coiner, Richard Coyne, Sam Fahnestock, Allen Fleming, Egbert Jacobson and Morton Goldsholl.

Contents

• 16 [8.5" x 8.5"] 4-panel sheets:
• Introduction for "Trademarks/USA" including the President's Message and 5 b/w photos of jury members [One 8.5" x 8.5" 4-panel sheet]
• The Trademark: A Graphic Summation of Individuality by Lester Beall including 5 b/w photos of the exhibition [One 8.5" x 8.5" 4-panel sheet]
• Entries of Particular Distinction [Fourteen 8.5" x 8.5" 4-panel sheets; each sheet includes 3 - 5 b/w illustrations]: Abbott Laboratories, George Nelson; The Ansul Company, Raymond Loewy; CBS, William Golden; Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Lester Beall; CCA, Ralph Eckerstrom; IBM, Paul Rand; International Minerals and Chemical Corp., Morton Goldsholl Design Assoc.; International Paper Co., Lester Beall; Lawry's Foods, Inc., Saul Bass; Martin-Senour Co., Morton Goldsholl Design Assoc.; Herman Miller, George Nelson; Playboy Magazine, Arthur Paul; Westinghouse, Paul Rand; Weyerhaeuser Co., Lippincott & Margulies, Inc.
• 25 [8.5" x 8.5"] loose single-sided sheets:
• 179 b/w trademarks [approx. 4 trademarks per one-sided page] includes work by Ladislav Sutnar, Saul Bass, George Tscherny, Lippincott & Margulies, Morton Goldsholl Design Assoc., Raymond Loewy, Tom Geismar/Chermayeff & Geismar Assoc., John Massey, Paul Rand, S. Neil Fujita, Dickens, Inc., Walter Dorwin Teague Assoc., George Nelson & Co., Lester Beall, Inc., Milton Glaser/Pushpin Studios, Charles Coiner, John Ciampi, Albert Kner/Container Corp. of America, Aero Press, Frank Gianninoto Assoc., Eckstein-Stone Assoc., Lippincott & Margulies, Dickens, Inc., and William Wondriska among many many others
• 56-page [8.5" x 8.5"] perfect-bound booklet:
• "Trademarks entered but not chosen for the 'Trademarks USA' 1964 exhibition" includes work by S. Neil Fujita, William Wondriska, Primo Angeli, Raymond Loewy, Chermayeff & Geismar Assoc., Saul Bass & Assoc., Lester Beall, Inc., Henry Dreyfuss, Morton Goldsholl & Assoc., George Nelson & Co., Pieter Brattinga, Harley Earl Assoc., Ladislav Sutnar, John Follis, Walter Allner and Pushpin Studios among many many others.

Since its inception in Chicago in 1927, the Society of Typographic Arts has been a vital participant in the Chicago design community, sponsoring seminars and conferences. Its publications, include Trademarks USA (1968), Fifty Years of Graphic Design in Chicago (1977), Hermann Zapf and His Design Philosophy (1987), and ZYX: 26 Poetic Portraits (1989).

In "The Trademark as an Illustrative Device" Paul Rand wrote that "the trademark becomes doubly meaningful when it is used both as an identifying device and an illustration, each working hand in hand to enhance and dramatize the effect of the whole."

It is a universal human trait to remember images better than names. "Your face is familiar, but I can't recall your name -- is such a common dilemma that it has ceased to offend. Yet our faces bear more resemblance to one another than the majority of our names. This is another way of saying that it is easier for most people to recall things seen than things heard, and that they most readily remember features which are unique, in faces or in good trademarks.

For generations in this country trademarks have fulfilled a need for quick identification, from the smallest articles of daily use to the largest industrial complexes. It is because trademarks are important in communication between producer and consumer.

It is because the mass-produced articles of our time reach such great numbers of people that the responsibility for good design in trademarks, as in manufacture, is greater than ever. Every manufactured article, permanent or transitory, and the mark of its origin can improve or debase public taste. It represents the manufacturer for good or ill; it can speak for graceless commercialism or for integrity and quality.

To produce this kind of a trademark, one that does not need a generation of repetition and millions of dollars in advertising to make the public conscious of it, requires the practiced hand of a skillful designer.

Spreads from this volume can be viewed here.

Price: $350.00
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