The link between supply and demand
Benno Wissing's 1965 logo for Dutch oil, gas and petrol brand PAM.
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The expansion of Dutch company Steenkolen Handelsvereeniging (Coal Trading Company) into oil and gas in the 1960s lead to a re-evaluation of its name as it was no longer involved exclusively in coal. In 1963, to reflect its diversification the corporation formally changed its name to the common abbreviation SHV.
The newly established Total Design was hired to develop a visual identity to coincide with and support the name change. Under the direction of partner Benno Wissing, a red right-angled triangle was conceived. This was based on an element from the coat of arms of Utrecht symbolising the coat Saint Martin, the city’s patron, cut in half to share with the poor. This abstract logo would later be developed into a second logo for SHV’s heating company Warmtecentrum, which featured the triangle in a 2x2 arrangement.
During the post-war energy transition, SHV continued to expand its oil and gas activities and, when the contract with American oil supplier Caltex was renewed, SHV launched PAM in 1953. This new brand would be dedicated to selling oil and petrol products, and was named after Pamela, the wife of Jan Fentener van Vlissingen, a co-owner of SHV.
As this new era of energy diversification took off, the business landscape was also rapidly changing. The dream of an international presence was also being pursued by energy corporations from the US and elsewhere in Europe. In order to maintain a strong presence in an increasingly competitive market place, SHV returned to Total Design, and partner Benno Wissing in 1963, to devise a new corporate identity for PAM.
As well as improving recognition, the primary goal was the standardisation of the PAM visual identity. This was of key importance as PAM had many types of petrol stations in use. These varied from those with a single petrol pump in front of a shop or home to busy stations with multiple pumps and additional services such as restaurants. Some of these appeared as striking modernist architectural forms others were in a vernacular style. Total Design had all of these photographed.
PAM launched in 1953 with a logo depicting a outlined droplet intersecting a triangle with the letters ‘PAM’ at the centre. This was used by petrol stations in the Netherlands, Austria and West Germany. Despite the use of simple geometric shapes and short name, the composition of the three elements limited the immediacy of the logo when viewed in motion from the road. Further, the fixed arrangement of elements limited the logo’s flexibility (and effectiveness) when used across a wide variety of contexts, not just on station signage but also industrial containers, vehicle liveries and stationery.
Benno Wissing and his team, which included George Koizumi, Pieter van Delft and later Hartmut Rowauke, developed a new modernist logo for PAM that was in line with the latest ideas shaping corporate identity design at the time.
A simple and abstract red drop was at the centre of the new corporate image, representing oil. This became an iconic motif, gaining power emblazoned, at scale, across the large surfaces of forecourts and gas containers. It was immediate in its combination of colour and form, from a distance, at speed and recognisable from almost all angles.
A PAM logotype was also designed. This was characterised by condensed uppercase letterforms and the functional suggestion of stencil-cut details. Initially, this was conceived with the bar of the ‘A’ removed (and can be seen in early concept drawings below) but was later reintroduced when finally rolling out the identity.
To increase the overall flexibility of the identity, the logo and logotype could be used as independent elements, or vertically or horizontally arranged depending on the availability of space. This was further enhanced by the acceptability of increasing and decreasing the space between the two elements, which can be seen on vehicles and product labelling.
The immediacy of the iconic red drop was maximised by its formalisation, repetition and often dramatic application across vehicle liveries and signage. In instances where further interest was needed, the droplet was used as a repeating pattern. This visual language was supported throughout by the consistent use of the readily available typeface Helvetica.
Total Design would use the photographs it had taken of all the PAM petrol stations to demonstrate and direct the application of the new visual identity, sketching over the many diverse locations with tracing paper.
In 1965, following two years of preparation and design development, the new PAM brand was launched. Total Design would continue to help SHV with its expansion, working with the corporation to develop visual identities for other brands such as Makro, Piet de Gruyter following its acquisition, and the launch of Xenos, amongst others
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