Public means people
Herb Lubalin and Chermayeff & Geismar’s logos for PBS, 1971 & 1984.
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In 1971 PBS had a problem. Despite having over 200 TV stations across the United States viewers thought of these as being local rather than part of a national broadcasting network. As non-commercial and publicly funded organisation, developing a sense of scale and authority would be essential in positioning itself against those that were commercially funded as it sought to grow further.
To develop a more ‘national image’ the broadcaster worked with renowned American designer Herb Lubalin (ASICS) to create a new logo. This would replace the basic wordmark, set in an uppercase sans serif, and employing three colours that was used at launch in 1970. Lubalin explored a number of options.
