Classic Logo: Mondi Paper Co., 1970
John Rieben’s 1970 logo for Mondi Paper Company.
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In 1920, Premier Paper Mills Ltd. established the first paper mill in South Africa. This was located at Klip River, a few miles from the city of Johannesburg. More companies slowly entered the market in the following decades. And, during World War 2, due to low international imports, the country’s three established mills made a substantial contribution to the South African economy and had near-continuous expansion in the following two decades.
In the 1960s, an era of expansive communications development, the demand for paper grew. Great strides were also being made in packaging design, with the innovation of new paper-based materials. The paper industry in South Africa also experienced a few setbacks in the early 1960s, due to a shortage of skilled labour and limited local water supplies. Alongside this, there were high transportation costs, relying on rail networks to move the paper cross-country. Despite these hurdles, successful expansion occurred throughout the decade with South Africa-based multinational mining company Anglo American founding the Mondi Group in 1967.
A massive infrastructure program initiated by the government channeled significant investment into heavy industry, with Mondi Valley being one beneficiary and kickstarting further growth.
To further the growth of the company, a new modern corporate image was needed and Mondi looked to Unimark International and American designer John Rieben to deliver this. He and his team were invited to develop a corporate identity “that would convey a strong, bold, and modern character and deliver a sense of movement and interest.” Having always wanted to work overseas and with a large design company, Reiben had spent a year and a half setting up a Unimark office in Johannesburg. It was from here that he created Mondi’s corporate identity.
The logo design was arrived at as a result of ‘concept-driven development’. According to Rieben “the idea of paper making becomes exciting when it is defined within the context of communication.” The extent of the designer’s thinking is communicated in the company’s interim graphic standards manual.
The logo’s story starts with central dots of the logo symbolising ideas/the mind. An idea shared between two people; the assimilation of ideas. Furthermore, when positioned side-by-side, the dots would be comparable to a pair of eyes. “The means of message reception in the case of printed communication is the eye.”
Reiben then combines the concept of communication with the technical elements of paper production. “The vehicle of the message transmission is paper, stylised here by the outstanding elements in the manufacturing process - the blanket and rollers.” These would convey movement, energy, and continuous activity. Then, Rieben selectively filled in the solids to create the 3D shape of the rollers.
The “juxtaposition of roller ends create an optical illusion. The viewer cannot be sure which of the roller elements is dominant.”
Rieben’s hope was that the viewer would remain interested in the puzzling character of the logo and satisfy the “sense of movement and interest” that was laid out in the brief.
The logo was applied to signage, corporate stationery and vehicle livery and created a striking visual presence with a bright red. As the corporation grew and diversified into packaging, it became simply Mondi Plc. The logo was retired and replaced with a simple ribbon motif alluding to a single sheet of paper.
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