In 1972, under the guidance of Nancy Hanks, the Federal Design Improvement Program (FDIP) was born. This was a concerted effort by the Administration and the National Endowments for Arts to improve the communications and presentation of many of the federal agencies of the time. This began with the Department of Labor and went on to produce iconic identity programs and logos for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States National Park Services, amongst over 30 others. (Read: LogoArchive Extra Issue Standards Manual).

The Federal Energy Administration (FEA) was one of the benefactors of this program. This was set up in 1974 to address the 1973 oil crisis. In June 1974 Fred Troller was invited to join management consultant Otto Spaeth to develop an overall identity design programme for the FEA that would ‘tastefully’ reflect the organisation, its purpose and aspirations.

Continue reading to learn how the ‘Energy Star’ was born out of thinking in motion, the ideas that led to the unique form of the logo and discover its underlying grid structure.