Introduction to the trademarks of Yugoslavia, 1973
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Introduction to the trademarks of Yugoslavia, 1973
Stane Bernie introduces the logos of Yugoslavia, published in Top Symbols & Trademarks of the World Volume 7.
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The following is an introduction to Volume 7 of Top Symbols & Trademarks of the World written by Stane Bernie and offering an insight into the trademarks of Yugoslavia. If you enjoy articles like this, and would like to support the project, subscribe to Logo Histories.
Jugoslavia
by Stane Bernie
The basic fact worth stating at the very outset of this discourse, is that the initiation of trademarks in Jugoslavia has been closely related to the development of graphic arts in general, and particularly to the art of design in such centres as Zagreb, Ljubljana and Beograd. Here, due to the other fine arts traditions (art schools and academies, numerous galleries and other art exhibitions, a multitude of artists and architects, etc.) on the one hand, and a potential economic and cultural concentration on the other, a rather favourable climate has stimulated a strong orientation toward solving the questions of form, particularly in graphic design. It was first more actively employed in publicizing cultural performances and commercial advertising than in the areas of political propaganda and other forms of visual communications, evidence that the original inspiration came from the cultural circles. Customers from commercial and other spheres appeared in the period when the influence of form on culture increased, which, on a wider scale is reflected in architectural and urban achievements, especially those that shaped artistic creativity after the mid-fifties. From the stricter perspective of graphic design, bourner, the initial organising of designer as first the "artists" of applied arts!) has to be mentioned. It was through professional associations that they began the promotion of graphic design.
In the beginning, it is true, this was done through programmes burdened by the arts and crafts tradition and its resulting variations. Throughout Jugoslavia, the applied arts were obstructed by the conceptual phrases of the previous period, which leaned on historic catchwords, mixtures of art nouveau, historicism, academic or other modes of formation.
Early graphic design particularly asserted itself as a distinct activity in composing books, the infrequent posters, catalogues and newspaper advertisements. Especially worth mentioning are the stimuli produced before the last war by the circle around the magazine Tank and the interest in Dada. One of the results of its endeavours was the affirmation of the "letter culture": the letter, in its different structural complexes, is stated as an unconventional medium which with its expressive factor, can represent a thoughtful message through signs as well as semantically.
Trademark design was dominated by a distinct narrative character and by direct symbolic reflection of the sign's basic semantic context. After the war this was still the governing rule for structuring signs in our country. From the point of view of the contents, this sort of concept entirely coincides of course with forms dictated by catchwords, as referred to above. It was possible so prevail over this dosed mental process why by energetically and consciously overcoming tradition which was deeply rooted in our images of visual information. Such a transformation could not have occurred overnight, or everywhere with uniform efficiency. The bearers of this "renaissance" were progressive artist and architects, both as individuals and in groups. Their apprehension and penetration of the existing concepts was through various programmes, public appearances, publicity, expositions of their own design ideas as well as of contemporaneous graphic achievements in other countries etc.). The actual works of course exerted some influence, but also experienced some difficulties in finding customers, due to this lack of awareness in the circles which determined the form of visual information and communication. This obviously is not the occasion for a detailed discussion of these problems, so let us turn to those distinctive strongholds which in an international survey also form a front for modern graphic design expression, and through this for one of its most important tasks - the design of trademarks.
There are several reasons for first considering the activity of the Zagreb group Exat-51, whose core consists of the architect V. Richter and the painters I. Picelj and A. Srec, around whom have gathered other architects and artists, and designers as well. The group's diversified aspect indicates a completely changed view of the broader role and significance of the fine arts.
The starting points of their ideas touched on "socialist realism" which was the proclaimed art in Jugoslavia at that time and which, as an unshaken doctrine, dictated extremely rigid frames for all the arts. As for content, the Exat group tended toward advocating freedom of expression and fully demonstrated its decision to follow the traditions and experiences of global abstract art. Its members claimed that their principles and methods of work were not a "reflection of decadent trends": on the contrary, they saw "in the study of those methods and principles the possibility of developing and enriching the visual communications field".
The logical result of such an orientation was the tendency toward a synthesis of all the arts and toward an experimental method of work, which allows the progress of creative inventiveness in the fine arts. Considering some outgrowths of the group (e.g. the foundation of the Zagreb Centre for Industrial Design and the international expositions "New Trends") it undoubtedly played a pioneering role in industrial and graphic design, although as a working body it was soon dispersed.
It is also necessary to emphasize here the intense activity of the painter and graphic designer Picelj, who doubtlessly deserves the most credit for establishing strong graphic activity in Zagreb. His influence is still noticeable in the contents of the "Zagreb Graphic Expression", which is based on geometrically studied composition and on emphasizing the components of lettering. These sometimes form the basis for figurative expression as can be seen, for instance, in much of the work of prominent designers of the young generation (M. Arsouski, B. Butan, D. Martinis, S. Ivekovic etc.). The comparatively small number of contemporary trademarks by designers from Zagreb proves that this basic feature of form has also penetrated trademark design. The symbols appear mostly as formally reduced and transformed letter systems, bringing them close to the concept of logotypes.
Ljubljana became a noted centre of graphic design in the late fifties when a group of young architects and designers showed a determined orientation toward this field. Among them must be mentioned G. Kosak, J. Brumen, A. Kastele and M. Dobravec. It is significant that parallel to this process was the attempt by industrial design to assert itself more strongly in Slovenia: the international industrial design exhibitions in Ljubljana (BIO) have gained recognition abroad. And a substantial number of graphic design works have also been exhibited, thus allowing evaluation and comparison with the best international achievements, which have certainly had a promotional infuence in Jugoslavia iself.
The numerous prizes that have been awarded to our designers on such occasions prove the rise in quality of the level of Jugoslav achievements. Despite an obvious relationship to the ideas of our Zagreb colleagues on form and design - which is more a consequence of being influenced by experiences of international graphic design than of a close collaboration it is possible to draw a line between the Zagreb" and "Ljubljana" concepts. This is chiefly noticeable in the stronger professional orientation of Ljubljana designers who, with systematic methodological treatment, brought Jugoslav graphics to the notion of total graphic design and of corporate style.
The results of such creative commitment can be seen in numerous projects completed for various Slovene firms, institutions and shows: here, design of trademarks play a significant part. The old-fashioned and uncommunicative trademarks, which after the last war appeared as products of the "momentary inspirations" of almost entirely chance "creators" (because of which, for example, almost every chemical industry had its logotype - neither formally nor semantically improved - enveloped in the aura of a retort, the machine industry in a cogwheel, and such were supposed to represent a trademark) have lately roused a number of firms to begin action for change. In many instances the announcement of a competition or direct order for a trademark also launched actions toward changing the entire graphic image, also including packaging and applications in product design and architecture. The trademarks have, from their previous descriptive symbolic forms, become organisms which are more perfect semantically. They raised the problem of visual identification to the level of figuratively perfect information. Among the leaders in this field are an able group of young designers from Ljubljana, the MSSV Studio (P. Skalar, M. Vipomik, J. Suhadole and J. Skalar), who in much of their work - in particular the complexly conceived total graphic design of the Bank of Ljubljana, where they inventively displayed the multilayered figurative use of the trademark - demonstrate the most consistently executed visual identification system within Jugoslav borders.
Like some other Slovene designers (M. Gnamus, M. Suhadolc, O. Kogoj, J. Kraigher etc.), they too participate in the movement which Kojak and Brumen started, and provided with the catchwords for both its contents and form. Close to these positions and not uninfluenced by them. N. Novakou in Beograd devotes himself intensely to graphic design, particularly in the field of trademarks. In a number of successful projects and designs for competitions, he demonstrated a polished formal expression which, in these circles, most distinctly reflects the findings and experiences of contemporary graphic design. With a similar goal of promoting these modern concepts, S. Masic - who deals less with trademark design, representing instead achievements in other visual communication fields - provides creative justification of these formal aspirations.
A comparison of the work of these two designers with that of the "traditionalist school" (which in the same environment still maintains the wort-out methods of more or less wittily "toying" with the letter form, its chance results and folkloric, coloured figurative systems, all of which are shown in this publication) tells, of course, of an entirely different creative orientation. Its background is not only that of a different education, but also of firm programmed starting points, tending toward consciously building such images and signs as would contribute to more efficiently extending the visual information culture.
The fact that the review of signs in this publication represents the first attempt to examine graphic achievements in Jugoslavia proves its great importance, but also underlines the necessity for sufficient documentation, without which a thorough and critically flawless assortment is not possible. However, Ricci's publication will certainly remain one of the basic documents to which we shall be referring for a long time to come.
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