Kawasaki Steel Corp. Logo, 1987
PAOS' 1987 logo and corporate identity for Kawasaki Steel Corporation.
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The steel division of Japanese manufacturing company Kawasaki Heavy Industries was spun off as the Kawasaki Steel Corporation in August 1950 following the breakup of the Kawasaki Dockyard. Also trading under the name Kawatetsu, it became one of the world's top steel producers by the 1980s, having undergone rapid growth during the post-World War II period.
With the intention of achieving the goal of becoming a key industrial player in the 21st century, Kawatetsu devised a plan to diversify its business. It would begin this by initially offering steel-related products and later expanding into other materials and services such as engineering and construction.
Kawatetsu worked with PAOS to develop a new corporate identity. This intended to support the restructuring of the business; accommodate its ambitious diversification plan; and solidify its identity as a potent industry leader into the 1990s.
PAOS devised the CI project name ‘TACK’, an acronym for Think and Act Creatively. This would be the guiding principle behind the project and would be widely used in the development of all CI activities. This included ‘TACK News’ which would be distributed to employees and group companies, alongside promotional posters and desk signs.
The new Kawatetsu logo, an iconic ‘K’, drew its inspiration from the flowing molten steel Kawatetsu was known for. The ‘grain gradation’ of the letter ‘K’ was inspired on an image of gushing molten steel and also expressed the ‘passion and vitality of the company’ which was emphasised further with a bright red.
Three versions of the logo were created to increase its flexibility and accommodate extreme scaling, from large format signage to small corporate stationery, whilst maintaining the integrity of the concept.
What would become known as the ‘Blazing Pattern’, became an important ‘sub-graphic’ element for Kawatetsu. This pattern could expand and contract depending on the context. In conjunction with a range of bright colours, this not only gave much of Kawatetsu’s communication an appealing and eye-catching visual character, but also expressed the principle of ‘acting creatively’ and afforded the company a lot of leeway. This included creating striking compositions with contrasting colours for marketing materials, or the application of a single silver ink for more formal documents.
The project didn’t always run smoothly. The executive in charge of leading the corporate identity project at Kawatetsu was having a hard time getting approval from the board of directors. Motoo Nakanishi, founder of PAOS, reached out to Kan Yamanaka for help. Yamanaka had been President of department stores Isetan, Matsuya and Tobu, all of which he had guided through big renewal programmes. Yamanaka suggested he go to talk to the board about how important design was to corporate management. Yamanaka talked about his previous experience in front of the members of the executive committee, and was able to get the support needed to drive the project to completion and its eventual rollout in 1987. The story of the CI project would later be published as the book ‘Blazing up Kawatetsu’.
A price war impacted the growth of steel manufacturers in 2000. During the resulting credit crisis, NKK and Kawasaki Steel agreed to merge their operations in April 2001. This merger was completed in September 2002, which formed JFE Holdings. As a result of the integration, the Kawatetsu logo, once described by Motoo Nakanishi as his favourite corporate symbol, was retired.
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This logo, for me, is absolute kool-ness!