6 0 TH AN N IV E R SARY
COMMUNICATION ARTS INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25
Communication Arts at 60 Pioneers Student Showcase Exhibit
March/April 2019 Twenty-Four Dollars commarts.com
TIMELINE
The following 24 pages provide a brief, 60-year overview of the evolution of creativity in visual communications and its relationship to society, culture and technology. First created 20 years ago for our 40th anniversary, this timeline was expanded for our 50th anniversary, and now again for our 60th. We’ve included projects and campaigns that have been noted as influential by our competition judges, other published sources or individual creatives. Work from the most recent years was chosen solely from our Annuals due to the absence of corroborative sources. Space constraints limited our coverage to work from the United States and Canada, and the positioning of work is approximate; exact dates are often difficult to ascertain due to a lack of public documentation, conflicting dates found in multiple sources and project durations that span more than a year. Our selection is not intended as a comprehensive history; it is, of course, open to debate as you will certainly cite different projects as having an influence on your own career as a creative professional. 36
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graphic design & advertising
YEARS
1960 International Paper logo: Lester Beall
Saul Bass designs title sequence and directs shower scene for Alfred Hitchcock’s film Psycho
Communication Arts first issue
Parisian Bakery identity: Marget Larsen
NASA “meatball” logo (revived in 1992): James Modarelli
Litton annual report: Robert Miles Runyan & Associates VW Beetle print campaign begins: Doyle Dane Bernbach
Exodus film logotype: Saul Bass & Associates
Westinghouse logo: Paul Rand
Monet exhibition poster: Norm Gollin
Eagle Shirtmakers print ad: Weiner & Gossage
Hunt Foods print ad: Young & Rubicam
“Around the world” ad for IBM: Benton & Bowles
politics & culture
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1959
Xerox photocopying machine
Kennedy and Nixon debate on television
Cuba: Castro takes power
U2 spy plane shot down
France: de Gaulle becomes president Hawaii becomes 50th state
Ornette Coleman releases Free Jazz US nuclear sub circumnavigates Earth underwater
George Grosz dies Frank Lloyd Wright dies Barbie introduced IBM 401 computer
Robert Noyce creates planar integrated circuit, allowing commercial development
John F. Kennedy elected president
1963
1962
1961
Commemorative postage stamp for the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation: Georg Olden
United Parcel Service logo: Paul Rand
Burlington Industries annual report: George Tscherny Eros magazine: Herb Lubalin, art director
Hillside Press logo: Keith Bright Holiday magazine: Frank Zachary, art director
Levy’s Bread print ad: Doyle Dane Bernbach CBS Television Network print ad: Lou Dorfsman/Al Amato
Show magazine: Henry Wolf, art director
Wolfschmidt vodka print ad: Papert, Koenig, Lois
American Broadcasting Company trademark: Paul Rand
Chun King TV commercial: BBDO, agency; Freberg Ltd., production company
Helvetica (Linotype), a reinterpretation of existing Grotesks by Edouard Hoffmann and Max Miedinger in 1957, becomes one of the most widely specified typeface families in the US during the ’60s and ’70s. Redesigned and expanded as Neue Helvetica in 1983
Newton Minow, FCC chairman, lambastes TV as a “vast wasteland,” calls for more federal regulation; the same day, Hubert Humphrey calls TV “the greatest single achievement in communication that anybody or any area of the world has ever known” First manned space flight, Yuri Gagarin orbits Earth Thalidomide birth defects
T. Eaton Co. Ltd. print ad: Jack Parker, art director National Broadcasting Company ad: Chermayeff & Geismar, designers; McCann-Erickson, agency
Alan Shepard first American in space
Campbell’s Soup Cans: Andy Warhol
Amnesty International formed
Seattle World’s Fair: Man in the Space Age
Berlin Wall constructed
Cuban Missile Crisis
Ernest Hemingway kills himself
John Glenn becomes first American to orbit Earth
Assassination of Dominican Republic president Rafael Trujillo Molina MIT develops first timesharing computer
Avis Rent a Car ad campaign: Doyle Dane Bernbach Roper poll shows 36% of Americans favor TV as an information source vs. 24% for print John F. Kennedy assassinated, Lyndon B. Johnson becomes president Édith Piaf dies
The Jetsons Marilyn Monroe dies
Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange
Martin Luther King Jr. gives “I Have a Dream” speech First interracial network commercial: Wisk detergent
Army-Navy football game: first instant replay in television sports Digital Equipment Corporation introduces first minicomputer
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INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: WEBSITES/MICROSITES
Cowboy “Cowboy removes any roadblocks to ride by implementing low-impact test ride sessions, live chat and a play-by-play of how the bike operates.” —Megan Meeker cowboy.com
Overview: When European electric bike startup Cowboy came to Ueno with only a name and a bike prototype, the full-service digital agency worked closely with the startup for three months, building its brand from the ground up. Ueno also created a marketing and e-commerce website, as well as a mobile app that unlocks key features of the bike. • Ueno’s team of five designers and developers in the United States and Iceland collaborated closely with Cowboy’s three Brusselsbased cofounders. • The new brand and website launched in April 2018. • Shortly after launching, Cowboy raised a round of $3 million in seed funding from multiple investors.
Jamie Aguilo, writer Romain Briaux, 3-D designer Marco Coppeto/Arnar Ólafsson/Kwok Yin Mak, designers David Navarro, creative director Cowboy, developer Ueno (New York, NY), project design and development Tanguy Goretti/Adrien Roose/Karim Slaoui, Cowboy, clients 116
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“An artful balance of color, type and photography blurs the line between entertainment and information, keeping you intrigued from beginning to end.”—Pablo Vio
Comments by Elizabeth Donovan, marketing director, Ueno: What do you think are the project’s core features? “As the foundation for its digital presence and beyond, Ueno created an unexpectedly playful visual identity for Cowboy, avoiding any Wild West references, except for a subtle nod to a cowboy’s spur in the logo. It all comes together on the product section of Cowboy’s new website—a detailed and immersive experience through the bike’s features with bold typography, strong colors, fun photography, subtle animations and crisp messaging.” What was the thinking behind the navigation structure? “Using a clean and easy layout, the navigation focuses on the product and its features and details. Photography and animations take up the most prominent areas of the screen, spiced up with copy, user interface elements and the brand color, magenta, for specific callouts and calls to action that immerse users in the Cowboy e-bike universe.” Is the audience you were targeting a particularly difficult one to reach? “E-bikes are the future of urban cycling, but they are a lot more expensive than standard bikes, and some users have the misconception that they’re like motorbikes. We had to build a bridge to these users to make e-bikes approachable and explain the advantages of going electric.”
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INTERACTIVE ANNUAL 25: ENVIRONMENTAL
Vallea Lumina “Light and its manipulation is a technique that has often been at the forefront of photography but severely lacking in the world of installations. Moment Factory is making some wonderful work and pushing our senses in the process.” —Michael Kern
Overview: How do you add to the enchantment of an already mind-blowing landscape? This was the challenge that Moment Factory tackled while crafting a storytelling experience between Cougar and Rainbow Mountains near Whistler, British Columbia. Adding a layer of mystery and enchantment to the mountains’ natural beauty, the multimedia entertainment studio created Vallea Lumina, a night walk brought to life with video projections, lighting, sound and special effects. Along an accessible 4,590-foot pathway, visitors follow clues left by two hikers toward a secret valley filled with wonders. • Moment Factory developed this evening experience in collaboration with The Adventure Group Whistler, complementing its lineup of outdoor entertainment activities. • More than 2,500 Instagram posts have used the hashtag #ValleaLumina. • The project took six months to produce.
Moment Factory (Montréal, Canada), project design and development The Adventure Group Whistler, client 154
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“The entire outdoor excursion is a digital Easter egg, unexpectedly discovering the next hidden message or secret feature.” —Megan Meeker
Comments by Moment Factory: Did you meet with any out-of-the-ordinary obstacles during development? “The physical path that leads visitors from Cougar Mountain to Rainbow Mountain and back was explored, walked, evaluated and created by our technical team, The Adventure Group Whistler and JoyRide, experts in mountain bike trail building. The path was built with the utmost respect for the environment and to ensure the best path into which to integrate our scenographic elements.” What was the most challenging aspect of the project? “Using technology outdoors is challenging, from making sure the installation can withstand all weather conditions to making sure the technology is hidden. Multimedia is seamlessly integrated in the surroundings—not only to respect the environment, but also to be as unobtrusive as possible so day visitors are not bothered by the equipment. Our methods for installing equipment have been recommended by professional arborists to ensure that the longterm health of the flora is protected.” How did this project compare with others you’ve worked on in the past? “Every Lumina night walk experience we create is unique and adapted to the location in which we work. Vallea Lumina is the eighth Lumina night walk in our series. Other Lumina night walk experiences are in Québec, Ontario, Japan and Singapore. Moment Factory has worked on more than 400 multimedia experiences over the years; each project is different by its nature or by its creative endeavor.” Communication Arts | commarts.com
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FRESH COLE WILSON
This photographer serves up a visual buffet on his website. Click on “Sport,” for instance, to see soccer players and the blur of cyclists streaking past. “YUMMY” leads to chefs and richly plated meals. And sections titled “Faces,” “More Faces” and “Even More Faces” show that everyone from writer Ta-Nehisi Coates to Kermit the Frog has been at the receiving end of Cole Wilson’s gaze. “I’m a bit of a ‘yes’ person,” he says, with a comprehensive portfolio to show for it. An art school dropout and a former bicycle mechanic, Wilson began working for himself when he moved to New York City. He’s now based in Brooklyn, with a client list that includes the New York Times and Reebok. “Soccer is a bit of an obsession for me, and for the last few years, I’ve been trying to push my work in that direction,” he says. “Food and beverage photography, along with my soccer and athletic work, seem to be two markets for me to try branching out to in a commercial sense.” colecwilson.com
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