Old logos

March 18, 2008 8:57 PM

120 pages of old logos, scanned from a 1970s book called “World of Logotypes.”
posted by tepidmonkey (20 comments total)

I'm a little surprised at how alike these all are. Still, a nice reference.
posted by bz at 9:05 PM on March 18, 2008

This is a wonderful resource.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:13 PM on March 18, 2008

Who's gonna cull 26+ of those out and make a font? Please?
posted by sourwookie at 10:11 PM on March 18, 2008

Very evocative of the period. I can envision giant versions of these logos affixed to towering brutalist buildings.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 10:47 PM on March 18, 2008

They'll go ga-ga at the go-go when they see me with my logo.
posted by Tube at 12:16 AM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

I'm pretty sure that book is still on the shelves at my local library, along with the 1903 medical dictionary prescribing vibration treatment for women with hysteria.
posted by b33j at 3:29 AM on March 19, 2008

I'm a little surprised at how alike these all are.

That's an inevitable result of collecting together so many logos. Still, I wager these are far more diverse than what a similar collection of web-2.0 logos would look like.

One thing I'd like people to understand/appreciate when they look at old collections like this is that all of the original art for these logos (save for the obviously typeset bits) was hand-assembled/drawn. No Photoshop. No Illustrator. Just drafting pens, ink, straightedges, templates, french curves, fine brushes, tape, x-actos, and rubylith.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:33 AM on March 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

Logos are the haiku of graphic design.
posted by Toekneesan at 4:34 AM on March 19, 2008

Some of these would do just fine in the present day. Look at the one in the upper-left here. Everything old is new again.
posted by echo target at 6:14 AM on March 19, 2008

Should they really be posted on Flickr as "All rights reserved?"
posted by Dave Faris at 8:19 AM on March 19, 2008

fires up Illustrator

These are brilliant...
posted by criticalbill at 8:47 AM on March 19, 2008

Wow! My middle school library had this book and I found it incredibly interesting. I used to just pore over it, I don't even know why. It's bizarre to see it again. Thanks!
posted by fiercecupcake at 8:59 AM on March 19, 2008

It's interesting to see which ones stood the test of time. I counted 13.
posted by Sys Rq at 9:01 AM on March 19, 2008

Modern Living '73 ! I suspect all of our shiny new web 2.0 logos will look every bit as quaint in 40 or so years.
posted by squalor at 11:20 AM on March 19, 2008

Jug City. Multi-purpose branding, is that.
posted by genghis at 11:27 AM on March 19, 2008

Jug City! How did I miss that one? We had one of those across from my elementary school. Good source of penny candy (when it still cost a penny). It's still there, in fact.

So that's 14.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:46 AM on March 19, 2008

These are great. They really highlight the kind of visual creativity necessary when you're working with limited colors.
posted by Deathalicious at 11:48 AM on March 19, 2008

Warms a trademark attorney's heart. I love this, thanks tepidmonkey.
posted by applemeat at 11:51 AM on March 19, 2008

KOSS hasn't changed a bit.
posted by Zampa at 7:35 AM on March 20, 2008

Wonderful. Reminds me of this book I picked up a while back. Thanks!
posted by Ponsonby Britt at 11:44 PM on March 23, 2008