Challenging new fields
Clifford Stead Jr. and Lester Beall's 1965 logo for chemicals and plastics manufacturer Rohm and Haas.
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Rohm and Haas was founded in Esslingen, Germany in 1907 by Dr. Otto Röhm. The corporation was relocated to Philadelphia and began the American side of the business in 1909 with Röhm remaining in Germany to run a company that would eventually become Röhm.
Rohm and Haas launched with Oropon, a chemical product that improved the cleanliness of leather factories. The American company saw significant growth as the approaching world war increased the demand for leather for the manufacturing of belts and saddles. The corporation again benefitted from the demands of war in the conflict that followed in 1939, finding its transparent plastic ‘Plexiglas’ in high demand for aircraft canopies.
Post war, Rohm and Haas was able to capitalise on the chemicals and plastics knowledge gained from accelerated development in the war years, developing further products and growing internationally. At this time, the corporation’s logo consisted of stacked and extended uppercase lettering and a vertical rectangle containing an R&H monogram and waves.
In 1965 Rohm and Haas moved into brand new headquarters designed by architectural firm George M. Ewing Company in consultation with architect Pietro Belluschi. This striking modernist building featured brown Plexiglas curtain wall panels as a clear expression of the advancements made in plastics manufacturing.
To coincide with the move, Rohm and Haas worked with leading designers Lester Beall (International Paper) and Clifford Stead Jr. on the development of a new corporate identity (CI), one that would support its continued diversification and expansion.
The CI intended to give a common image to all the members of the Rohm and Haas family, both in the USA and abroad, and leverage its network to improve visibility, enhance recognition and project scale. This formalised identity would also make the most of economies of scale and offer greater flexibility for a growing number of applications. Just like the new headquarters, the logo needed to project the ambitious and modernised vision of the corporation.
The logo would be used in all printed material and advertising prepared by the parent company, its foreign subsidiaries and certain domestic subsidiaries.
“The value of a strong symbol, integrated to give a total semblance to all conceivable areas of a company’s visual exposure, offers a positive attack on the problem of obscurity in this populous industrial arena-where identity-building budgets are necessarily conservative.” – Lester Beall
With the intentions and requirements in mind, Beall devised a new logo for Rohm and Haas that combined the outline of a flask with an upward pointing arrow. The flask functioned as a unifying element for all of Rohm and Haas activities in the manufacturing of chemicals and plastics, and suggesting a ‘technical background’. The addition of an upward pointing arrow was a symbol of progress, of the expanding and diversifying nature of the business. Together, these two elements formed a distinctive and functional motif, giving form to the ‘dynamic spirit and interest in new and challenging fields’ that characterised all aspects of the corporation.
The simplified and iconic form of the new logo afforded greater flexibility in use, compared to the previous design. Despite the change, similarities remained. This included the symbol being placed within a rectangle, and always aligned either to the right hand side or above the name.
The new logo was designed to be more adaptable to growing situations in which it would be employed such as advertisements, signs, labels and literature, and wherever a ‘strong visual effect’ was needed. The logo retained its recognisability, when reduced down and could be more easily reproduced using conventional and special printing methods such as embossing and block foiling.
The modern look of the new logo was supported by a high contrast and eye-catching colour palette of black, white and orange, and a logotype set in the typeface Microgramma. This typeface was designed in 1952 by Alessandro Butti and Aldo Novarese and a precursor to Eurostile designed in 1962. This was used in two weights as the corporate typeface.
To increase the flexibility of the logo across a diversified set of surfaces, satisfying situations in which there was limited space, vertical and horizontal lock-ups were created. In the case of corporate stationery, the logo and logotype could be used as independent elements, separate from one another.
Flexibility was a ‘prime requisite’ and a ‘working element’ of the Rohm and Haas identification system. The logo, lock-up and typeface was built out into a grid-based and modular system, which informed the layout of packaging, signage and vehicle liveries. These elements and system lent themselves well to various applications, which were demonstrated in the house identification manual devised by Stead Jr. and Beall, and from which the images that illustrate this article have been drawn.
In 2008, Rohm and Haas was bought by Dow Chemical Company, which intended to continue to do business under the name and remain in its Philadelphia headquarters. It would later be absorbed entirely into Dow, with divisions sold off and the brand and logo retired.
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