Tactics – What's the concept?
The concept behind Pentagram's 1977 logo for Japanese cosmetics brand Tactics
Tactics was a men’s cosmetics brand manufactured by Japanese company Shiseido. Shiseido was founded in 1872 and is still in operation today.
The Tactics logo was designed by Mervyn Kurlansky and Lora Starling at british design studio Pentagram. This was constructed from 64 spaced-out solid squares, with 20 rotated to form the letter ‘T’.
The logo, in its tiled board-like arrangement of squares, was conceived of as a way to reflect the theme of tactics and ‘gamesmanship’.
A version with a reduced number of squares was produced to increase the flexibility of the logo across smaller use-cases.
The logo and name was applied in gold across white bottles, tubs and tubes, and on black our brown cardboard packaging.
The Tactics products can still be purchased today, and still bearing the logo designed by Mervyn and Lora back in 1977.
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