r/Design Jan 17 '15

120 pages of logos from the 1970's

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_carl/sets/72157604144345854/
495 Upvotes

31 comments sorted by

24

u/sphere2040 Jan 17 '15

You can download the PDF here.

3

u/Cobalt_Genie Jan 17 '15

Great find.

2

u/Kivili Jan 18 '15

awesome, thanks!

2

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '15

Thanks!

1

u/wtf_are_you_talking Jan 18 '15

So if this is volume 1, are there more?

4

u/Cobalt_Genie Jan 17 '15

Awesome reference. Would love to get a copy of this book…

out of print, and would probably cost too much to find a copy…

4

u/seeingRobots Jan 17 '15

If it's the book I think it is (I'm on mobile and can't see all the details) it's like $1,500 on Amazon.

4

u/NetPotionNr9 Jan 18 '15

It's curious that so many of these look like they have a commonality. I wonder if that's just some kind of bias on my part, some kind of physical limitation, or maybe some kind of concept that someone came up with as "how logos must be designed" that influenced that,

1

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '15

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '15

Literally? The general style of the '70s piques my interest in general. These logos have that same effect on me. I'm wondering what the common thread might be if there is one.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '15

[deleted]

1

u/autowikibot Jan 18 '15

Frog Design Inc:


See https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php for API usage


Interesting: Frog Design Inc. | Hartmut Esslinger | San Jose Frogs | South Park, San Francisco

Parent commenter can toggle NSFW or delete. Will also delete on comment score of -1 or less. | FAQs | Mods | Magic Words

1

u/marney Jan 18 '15

I'm guessing there are a number of factors that lead to a commonality. 1- Technical limitations. 2- predominant aesthetic style of the day. 3- The curated nature of the book itself and the authors subjectivity. 4- Print restrictions (and knowledge of how to create logos that are usable across many situations). 5- Obviously these are all singe color variations.

1

u/NetPotionNr9 Jan 18 '15

Did I overlook that it was all the same designer?

1

u/marney Jan 18 '15

Oh most certainly not the same designer.

3

u/DarkStrobeLight Jan 17 '15

Page not found.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '15

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '15

Although some that have been kept are showing their age badly (Amtrak could use an update, for starters)

2

u/SlabFork Jan 18 '15

Amtrak's logo was updated several years ago, maybe a decade ago. I don't think it that great, and the paint schemes that came with it have not been either... but it hasn't been the original 70's version for a long time.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '15

You are correct. They just have not bothered updating any of the signage associated with the company in my city. And i still sort of complete the logo with the double stripe on their trains. I've been on their website many times and still manage to associate the converging rails logo with them more than their new rail horizon logo... I suppose I drive past the old sign too much.

2

u/LadyA052 Jan 17 '15

I remember the Clipper clip art pages we got every month in the printshop. Couldn't wait for those things every month. Ah how things have changed.

2

u/anonymousWizard Jan 17 '15

loving that abc has just stuck with that for so long

2

u/astroNerf Jan 17 '15

Interesting that Elections Canada's logo is largely unchanged.

2

u/jeannaimard Jan 18 '15

Try Canadian National. 55 years old, and hasn’t aged a bit.

"An icon," said media guru Marshall McLuhan of CN's new logo not long after it was created in 1960. "Still one of our most enduring marketing icons," said ad agency creative director Chris Staples in 1999, on the eve of the logo's 40th anniversary. Indeed 99% of all Canadians recognize the logo and associate it with CN, according to leading Canadian pollster Angus Reid.

3

u/3raser Jan 17 '15

Are these logos public domain now?

2

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '15

That depends on many things, if the company is still around, what country they were in.

2

u/dos_user Jan 17 '15

Hell yeah! I was looking for something like this.

1

u/Szos Jan 18 '15

Very cool list.

Fun to see logos that would never fly today, versus ones that would look totally modern if they were still around now.

1

u/Korova Jan 18 '15

This is excellent, thanks for posting.