Montedison – What's the concept?
A look at the concept behind Walter Landor Associates' 1971 logo for Montedison.
What’s the concept?
In the 1970s Italy’s Montedison Group was made up of nearly 200 companies. Its rapid growth and then merger with Montecatini had created internal communication difficulties, producing thousands of pieces of paper work.
Following the appointment of a new president in 1971 the company embarked on a series of internal restructuring programmes to better utilise human, technical and financial resources.
They worked with Walter Landor Associates to help improve internal and external communications and develop a new corproate identity. This included the design of a new logo.
The logo combines four arrows and uses negative space to create a fifth. This fifth arrow symbolised the unity and growth of the four sectors that made the Montedison group; fibres, food and retail distribution and pharmaceuticals and services.
The group logo was blue but, to help delineate between the sectors, colour was introduced to the lower right arrow. Brown was used for fibres, red for food and retail distribution, green for pharmaceuticals and light blue for services.
Extrusion Logos
The flat surface of the page or screen is subverted by the ‘extruded logo’ mimicking the perspectives and depth of real world objects. It’s a tension that lends an eye-catching and memorable aspect to a logo. Often employed by designers in the context of, for example, packaging and manufacturing, construction and architecture, or by those seeking to suggest expansiveness or growth, or simply to create visual drama.
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My understanding is that Landon fobbed Montedison off with a failed proposal for an airline. My mother worked at Montedison soon after the logo happened and that was the story within the company :-)