me studio

i came across an old issue of the british magazine ‘design’ from the late 60’s, that featured two articles about information graphics (a term which did not yet exsist) and corporate identity

the mexico ’68 olympics identity is of course a well documented case, but still worth showing again because it still looks so modern and fresh… i particularily like the ‘groovy dress designs, the lower right hand one is a variation on the line pattern employed in the logo grid, the logo itself and the icons (designed by lance wyman) for the various disciplines show a reamrkable clarity whilst being ‘funky’ at the same time, in many ways i prefer these to the more famous and iconic series designed by ‘otl aicher’

the collapsible cardboard display system shown was designed to be easily dismounted and transported around… it is also (perhaps not a big issue at the time) very environmentally friendly, these kinds of materials generally have a short lifespan…

the whole corporate identity system was designed in such a way that other designers could easily implement (and more importantly) add to the whole look and feel, in other words it was an ‘open source’ housestyle that wasn’t afraid to allow subsequent users to tamper with and (maybe even) improve on the original base design… now how many designers do you know who think like that?

the second case in the magazine was a background piece on the british roadway signage system (then new) designed by ‘jock kinneir’ which is still in use today… although the signage system designed for schiphol airport in the netherlands (also in the 60’s) is much more renowned and well documented, i believe this system still deserves a lot of praise for it’s clarity and timelessness… that typically british dark green colour was chosen principally because it harmonised with the landscape and the simplicity of the typography and arrow elements is deceptively no nonsense