Vintage Monochrome MCM Logos & Trademarks from the 1950s – 1970s
Vintage Monochrome MCM Logos & Trademarks from the from the 1950s to early 1970s, which have been excavated from various design publications, collated by Sandi Vincent on Flickr.
About the Collection
Society of Typographic Arts (STA), June 1968.
“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.”
The Society of Typographic Arts is Chicago’s oldest professional design organization. We are designers who promote high standards and focus on the art and craft of typography, design, and visual communication.
There’s a lot of vintage monochrome logos in this collection, which was initially curated in 2011, so they are something many of you have likely already come across.
However, as with all things on the internet, every day there’s a new group of young & older people who start discovering things for the first time, so it’s helpful to restoke the creative inspiration fire from time-to-time.
I also think it’s a nice refresher for some of us more seasoned creative and internet veterans, as I personally can rarely get enough of seeing creative Gold like this particular collection.
There are many logos and trademarks in this collection that are both immediately recognisable, and many that are quite obscure.
Design Credit
Sandi has given proper credit and design info for every single logo in the collection, so for the few individual logos and trademarks below, I’ve copied the relevant credit and added it under each image in italics.
MCM Logos & Trademarks from the 1950s – 1970s
Designers Collis Clements/Gerald Barney. Emblem for British Railways. From Graphis Annual 66/67.
Makoto Wada Signet, Signet for the Design Studio Mainichi Newspapers. Artist Makoto Wada. Japan
Trademark for a Filmiyhtyma Oy a film production company. Artist Osmo Omenamaki. Finland.
Logo for a business center, from Graphis Annual 73 – 74
Otto Bützberger, Basel, a Swiss company that made metal revolving doors.
Christiane Beylier Typography Pattern, From Graphis Annual 67/68
Alan Mitelman, art director/illustrator. From Communication Arts, Volume 11, No. 5, 1969
Designer A. Norman Law, Jr. Trademark for East Cleveland Renewal Projects, Inc. USA. Graphis Annual 69/70.
Logo by Bill Sontag and Joseph Bottoni Symbol for the Communications Institute USA
Trademark for Dorey Design Ltd. Design by Jeremy Knight
Designer Tom Courtos/Papert, Koenig, Lois. Trademark from TM: TRADEMARKS/USA 1945 – 1963 (1968)
MCM Logos & Trademarks from the 1950s – 1970s on Flickr
There are loads more Logos & Trademarks over on the Flickr Album, so it’s worth checking them all out.
