Elf Logo, 1967
Jean-Marie Chourgnoz, Henry Chaney, Erich Brenzinger and Jean-Roger Rioux's 1967 corporate identity for Elf.
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By the early 1960s the ERAP Group appeared in France under several names. Among them were Caltex, CFPP, Lacq, La Mure and Avia. These covered refineries and chemistry, the production of oil and gas, and an international distribution network that extended across six countries. The formation of UGD (General Union of Distribution) in the mid 1960s was an initiative to essentially ‘re-group’ these. The combined efforts of each would then be focused, operating under a common logo and new name, vastly increasing the visibility of the total enterprise.
What would become the Elf corporate identity is a story of two parts; the Elf name, logotype and logo and the ‘Red Spot’. The design of these would fall under the jurisdiction of two separate design groups, the first; made up of Jean-Marie Chourgnoz, Henry Chaney and Erich Brenzinger, would devise the concept and the drawing of the logo and logotype, and later Jean-Roger Rioux who would work on the standardisation of the corporate identity (CI) and be responsible for the introduction of a further graphic element, a red spot.
The first part began back in 1962 when, in order to determine the ideal name for a new entity, IBM was asked to produce a computer capable of generating combinations of three, four and five letter words. As later recounted in an article by Henry Chaney, students were hired to tick off the pronounceable words and colour in those evoking the ‘world of oil’. After eliminating the unpronounceable combinations and those considered to have inappropriate meanings, around 100 possible words were selected by specialists in the field of phonetics and semantics. Linguists then studied their acceptability in foreign languages and psychologists investigated the perceptual qualities.
Settling on the name ‘Elf’ work began on developing a logo and logotype, with Jean-Marie Chourgnoz coming up with the basic concept convinced that it should be a ‘huge arrow indicating the station’, his direction was to cut out two square cardboard boxes, one blue and the other red, and make them fit together. Henry Chaney found that, in the combining of two arrows, a commonality was found with a ‘Trépan’, the teeth of a drilling tool which was then used successfully to sell in the idea.
Colour posed another problem due to the prevalence of France’s tri-colour, an often used palette for corporate identities in the country. These were adapted, moving the blue slightly towards green and using a red that was a touch more orange. Neue Haas Grotesk was then adapted by Erich Brenzinger to form the logotype, which was then set in black which further drew out the colours of the ‘Trépan’.
The combined logo and logotype was tested on a light-box, during the day and night, and within the context of a dummy service station to measure its effectiveness when viewed at speed from a distance. From these studies, the final proportions and dimensions of the logotype and signage were then formalised.
In 1966, the ERAP Group commissioned renowned French designer Jean-Roger Rioux, who had previous experience in the industry working with Shell, to help standardise and further develop its corporate appearance. Despite having a strong logo, it was felt that ‘every sign on the road was in increasing competition with its surroundings. And so, Elf required a stronger visual presence.
The architectural disparity of mid-1960s service stations made it necessary to develop an easily identifiable network. Without the possibility of being able to demolish, rebuild or otherwise transform the buildings, a ‘common graphic denominator’ was sought out, an optical decorative super-graphic that would be recognisable from a distance and at high speeds, easily remembered and possible to incorporate into every type of building and structure, from stations to tankers to packaging and gas silos.
The two basic requirements that needed to be fulfilled was the maximum utilisation of the available space (which would be a consistent governing factor) and the combination of legibility at great distance and at high speeds and visibility based on investigations into size and colorimetry.
After numerous studies (using models and life-sized mock-ups), which included slashes, chevron and scaling up the ‘Trépan’, a ‘red spot’ was selected. This was considered to be the perfect shape that could catch the eye and be cognitively completed when only partially visible, a critical consideration when wrapped around buildings and when viewed at speed.
Doors and windows were incorporated to obtain the largest possible surface area. Alongside the logo, the red spot became a distinctive sign of the new Elf network. This was then developed further to be used as a basic element in all forms of communication as well as being visual support in the publicity campaign. Coloured was used alongside the circle, to delineate and and identify different products and services, used consistently in the solution to many of the graphic problems encountered by the corporation.
The Elf Group, accepted the new graphic principles and radically broke with tradition. This was emphasised by the rapidity of the new CI’s deployment, “in a single night, they suddenly dressed hundreds of gas stations.” – Henry Chaney.
Despite the enthusiasm for the logo, logotype and red spot, aspects of these were modified. The logotype took on a more graphic quality as the letters were focused into a single connected total form and scaled down, and narrow slashes where added alongside the circle.
The logo remained, but was reimagined in the 1990s. In 2000, Elf Aquitaine merged with Total Fina to form TotalFinaElf, which changed its name to Total in 2003, and with it, the logo was retired.
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This logo for the Elf company seems to be absolutely unique in its design.