Protection of Goods & People

Ivan Chermayeff and PAOS' 1986 logo and corporate identity for Tokio Marine.

Tokio Marine and Fire was founded in 1879 and, by the mid 1960s, had become the leader in Japan's non-life insurance industry. Although its early emphasis had been marine insurance the corporation had diversified its products and services, and moved into household insurance. This also included automobile, fire and casualty policies.

Tokio Marine and Fire was well-regarded. It was a household name in cities, listed on the stock exchange, and one of the top employment choices for many college graduates. Despite this, a careful investigation of the corporation’s image revealed that the ‘marine’ aspect was what people were most familiar with. This was emphasised further by the wave-like quality of the previous logo, very much in the style and spirit of Japanese ‘mon’.

With an expanding share of the corporation’s business going to household insurance and related products, and in view of the introduction of new information technologies and rivalries in the financial market a rethink was needed to help the corporation better align its visual identity and its primary product.

Japanese design studio PAOS was hired to undertake the strategy and deign of a new corporate image and, true to its name (Progressive Artists Open System – which focused on outsourcing specialists) set up a logo competition from which a design system would be built from. Three design studios were selected from Japan, Europe and the United States, with each being invited to submit proposals.