Collated by Richard Baird, founder of LogoArchive, the world’s largest historical logo book, and of LogoHistories, home to 200+ in-depth logo histories.
Logo design has never been one international style. Swiss rigour, Japanese restraint, Polish wit and North American corporate polish each grew out of their own economies, printing traditions and ideas about what a company should look like.
These articles, reprinted from design annuals and magazines of the 1960s to the 1990s, are snapshots of how designers in each country saw their own trademark culture at the time. Several of them introduced national sections of the influential Top Symbols & Trademarks of the World series.
Read them alongside our designer and studio profiles, essays on trademark design and corporate identity case studies, or browse by country through the Swiss, Japanese, Dutch, Canadian, Italian and British design tags.
Key Takeaways
National styles are real
Trademark design in each country was shaped by local industry, printing technology and design education, from Swiss grid systems to Japanese family crests.
Designers documented their own scenes
Many of these surveys were written by leading designers of the time, introducing their country’s work to an international audience.
Influence travelled both ways
Post-war modernism spread internationally, but each country absorbed it differently, producing distinctly local interpretations of the same ideas.
Go behind the logos. Explore 200+ in-depth and meticulously researched logo histories revealing the designers, design decisions and ideas behind the world’s most iconic logos and important brand identities.
Continue reading to discover all 15 articles in this collection →
Introduction: Great Britain and Ireland, 1973
In this introduction to Volume 4 of Top Symbols & Trademarks of the World, Colin Forbes offers an insight into British logo design in 1973. It’s illustrated with images from three sections of the book, Great Britain, Belgium and Netherlands.
Introduction to the trademarks of Italy, 1973
In this introduction to Volume 5 of Top Symbols & Trademarks of the World, Vittorio Gregotti offers an insight into Italian graphic design in 1973. It’s illustrated with images taken from the Italian trademarks section of the book.
Two house styles in the Netherlands, 1970
In this article, published in Graphic Design 39, 1970, Ota Yukio writes about two house styles in the Netherlands, KLM and DSM.
Trade Marks and Signets from Poland, 1970
In this piece from 1970, Franz Hermann Wills writes about the trade marks and signets of Poland.
A Glance at Modern Trade-Marks in Czechoslovakia
Here, in an article published in Idea 133, 1975, Jan Rajlich writes about modern trade marks in Czechoslovakia.
Introduction to the trademarks of Yugoslavia, 1973
Here, Stane Bernik introduces Volume 7 of Top Symbols & Trademarks of the World, offering an insight into the trademarks of Yugoslavia.
Graphic Design In Europe, 1978
Writing in 1978 for Issue 150 of the Japanese design magazine Idea, British designer Colin Forbes reflects on graphic design in Europe, covering printing, the architect/designer, the American influence and trends.
Introduction: United States, 1973
This is an introduction published in Top Symbols & Trademarks of the World Volume 1, 1973. It introduces the logos and trademarks of the United States.
Graphic Design in Canada, 1983
In this article from Novum Gebrauchsgraphik, November 1983, Peter Bartl writes about Canadian graphic design.
Graphic Design in Canada
This article by Canadian designer Burton Kramer was published in 1975 in Idea Extra Issue: Graphic Design in Canada.
Symbols and Trademarks of Canada, 1997
Here are four introductory texts to the book Symbols and Trademarks of Canada published in 1997 and written by Raymond Bellemare, Kosta Tsetsekas, Laurent Marquart and Brian Smith.
Introduction: Latin America, 1973
This is an introduction published in Top Symbols & Trademarks of the World Volume 3, 1973. It introduces the logos and trademarks of Latin America.
Japanese Emblems in History, 1971
In this introduction to Volume 4 of Top Symbols & Trademarks of the World, Colin Forbes offers an insight into British logo design in 1973. It’s illustrated with images from three sections of the book, Great Britain, Belgium and Netherlands.
Graphic design in Korea, 1981
In this article, published in Graphic Design 82, 1981, Chung Si-hwa writes about graphic design in Korea.
The Graphic Design Standard of India, 1977
In this piece from Novum Gebrauchsgraphik, January 1977, Ivan Kostka writes about Sudarshan Dheer and the standard of graphic design in India.
Go behind the logos. Explore 200+ in-depth and meticulously researched logo histories revealing the designers, design decisions and ideas behind the world’s most iconic logos and important brand identities.