January 26th, 2010
Article
Australian Icons—

As it’s Australia Day here, I’m skipping this weeks usual Process post in favour of a look at some of the most iconic, powerful and enduring pieces of Australian graphic design from the last 100 years.

This is not a definitive list by any means. I’m only looking at the 20th century and there are dozens of notable omissions. This list complies just a few pieces of design that I consider to be important, recognizable, and both culturally and artistically significant.

This list features only commercial art, illustrations and logos. No industrial design. No textiles. No photography. Nothing that’s been hung in a gallery (to the best of my knowledge). Beyond that, eligibility for this list is based on recognizability, longevity, cultural impact and aesthetic quality. These are images that have penetrated the Australian culture. They are icons, unmistakable and significant to not only the design community, but to everyone. I’d love to know what you would have included on the list, so please feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.

The Australian design goodness will continue on Thursday, when my Inspiration post will be a tribute to Brian Sadgrove. You may not know the name, but you will definitely know the work. Anyway, on with the show….

Designed by Ken Cato in 1986 – the Australian Made logo is used to certify products that have been substantially created in Australia, to help promote and encourage Australian industry. It’s a fabulous logo, with it’s hyper-stylized kangaroo and green triangular form making it one of the most recognizable and desirable logos in the country.

A cause definitely worth supporting too.
For more information go here.

Designed by Harold Thomas, and first flying on July 12th 1971, the Australian Aboriginal flag is a symbol of unity for a displaced people who have suffered immeasurable hardship. The red stripe represents the land, the black represents the Aboriginal people, and the yellow represents the sun. If it weren’t so deeply infused with its own significance to the Aboriginal culture, I think this would make an ideal replacement for our current flag. A powerful and striking icon.

In 1988, our currency began the transfer from paper to to plastic, and now in 2010 we have one of the most recognizable and innovative money systems in the world. Behind the rainbow spectrum of notes is a who’s who of Australian graphic design, with names like Bruce Stewart ($5, $100), Max Robinson ($10), Brian Sadgrove ($50) and Gary Emery ($20), all leaving their mark. I imagine it’s quite a thrill to know that at least half the population at any one time is carrying around your design work in their pocket.

While not without its share of controversy and criticism in the development process, it’s impossible to deny the significance of this logo and it’s contribution to drawing the eyes of the world to Australia. Shown here are both the bid logo by Michael Bryce and the final games logo (by Flett Henderson and Arnold) and while neither are particularly innovative or surprsing, they both possess beauty, style and power.

It’s a symbol that has had a long evolution, which begins in the late 1800′s and ends with the the definite 1983 iteration. The Boxing Kangaroo was most famously used as a symbol for Australia’s first successful bid in the America’s Cup. With it’s distinguishing yellow body and red gloves, the copyright for this logo was purchased by the Australian Olympic Committee for use as merchandising in the 2000 Olympics, however it’s not uncommon to see it bastardized all over the place, from beer coolers to tattoos.

Another kangaroo which has seen numerous revisions is the Qantas mascot, one of the most famous and recognizable Australian logos ever produced. Each version sees the kangaroo becoming more stylized and abstract, with 2007 delivering the most powerful and and beautiful icon yet, designed by Hans Hulsbosch. Not everyone would agree with that statement though, notably designer of the 1984 iteration Ron Dyer, who described it as a “waste of money”. He may have a point though, at the very least they could have set aside a portion of the budget to improve the food in economy…

Continuing the theme of evolving logos is the ABC, one of the most beloved (and debated) institutions in the country, which has seen its lissajous curve logo grow from a simple line drawing to a reflective, metallic 3D object. Like many people who grew up with it, I have a fondness for the 1975 – 2000 iteration, however this is a good example of how to succesfully expand and develop a logo overtime without the need for a complete revision. The above image was stolen from the wonderful people at Pip & Co.

The ABC is also well known for it’s highly creative and ever changing on-screen idents, many more of which you can see here.

Issues of taste aside (for the record I love the stuff) I can think of few other food items that can inspire such fervent patriotism. Vegemite’s diamond shaped logo, with it’s yellow and red palate, is one of our most long-lasting, having seen only minor adjustments over the last 100 years. The products reputation has taken a bit of a beating over the last few years though, firstly after being sold to international food giant Kraft and then last year with the extraordinarily misguided iSnack 2.0 launch.

Here’s a glimpse back at simpler times, where all it took was a catchy jingle and a marching band to successfully market your product.

Redheads matches have seen only four major updates in 100 years, with the anonymous redhead slowly morphing from something of a suburban housewife to the sultry figure we know her as today. The design is so iconic that entrepreneur Dick Smith was able to use it as the basis for a humorous protest in 1999.

Designed by Vince Frost and director Des Clark, this relaunch of the Australian Office of Film & Literature classification system took the existing symbols and combined them with bold flat colours to assist in easy identification. It’s an incredibly restrained, stylish and sophisticated way to approach a complex problem, wherein a clear system was required for use on a wide range of media and materials. The strength of the design is evident in the fact that the system works despite very little adherence to a style guide in its many applications. Given our love of all forms of entertainment, the system is now one of the most visible pieces of design in Australia.

Frost also produced a series of animations to be played before films in the cinema which can be viewed here.

Find out more about these, and other ratings systems here.

If you grew up in the suburbs of Australia, chances are you’ve seen one, if not both of these signs. While not as frequently used anymore, these symbols were designed to foster community awareness, and to provide a safe houses for school-children in moments of crisis. I’ve not been able to discover the names of the designers behind these, so if anyone is able to help me out there please leave a note in the comments.

Of all the design for government funded public services, this one has to be the best and most memorable. The Life Be In It campaign encourages people to be more active and to participate in sports and physical recreation. The man behind both the iconic illustrations and the world’s second most famous couch potato Norm is Alex Stitt.

While there are those who go out of their way to avoid them, it’s unlikely that many have successfully avoided at least some form of contact with Telstra (formerly Australian Telecom). It turned out to be suspiciously difficult to find a copy of the company’s previous logo, but thanks to Google image search & Vector Magic I’m able to present a copy of the elusive mark at a decent size.

While Telstra certainly benefit from complete market saturation, they have left an indelible graphical imprint on the country. They do seem to have trouble finding their feet with their current identity though. The stylized T & telephone receiver, originally designed in 1993 by Flett Henderson and Arnold, has seen numerous tweaks and embellishments over the last few years.

Daffodil Day and the Pink Ribbon are two of the most successful graphic devices in the country, and incredibly both are for cancer charity campaigns. The Pink Ribbon in particular has such strong brand awareness that now products such as Mount Franklin can simply adopt the trademark pink on it’s bottle caps to be effective. It is comforting to know that the power of design and marketing isn’t always used for the purposes of evil.

From humble beginings as Double J in Sydney, youth radio network Triple J is now one of the country’s largest broadcasters, and has expanded its empire into television, magazines, an endless stream of merchandise and various online enterprises. Present on every offshoot is the surprisingly modular drum logo. Triple J has been able to inspire the sort of brand loyalty that has their fans doing all the work for them, with tens of thousands of listeners proudly displaying the drum on their cars, furniture and schoolbooks.

Originally designed 18 years ago by the brilliant Andrew Hoyne, the logo has come to be synonymous with Australian music, outdoor festivals and youth culture, which is pretty powerful stuff. Hoyne are a shining example of how to evolve a brand with style and integrity, demonstrated in two excellent refreshments of “the drum”.

Two Australian record labels that have helped propel Australian music onto the international scene are Mushroom & Modular.

Mushroom, formed by Michael Gudinski and Ray Evans in 1972, was responsible for launching the careers of some of the countries biggest names, including Kylie Minogue and Skyhooks. After being bought in 2005 by Warner Entertainment, Vince Frost was contacted to refresh the boomerang logo. The end result is a very funky M with mushroom knockouts, although unfortunately since the launch of the design the label appears to have absorbed the Warner branding.

Not so with Steve Pavolvic‘s Modular, whose multi-coloured mirrorball logo is actively used throughout the labels many releases and projects. Designed by Alter, there’s a sense of fun and playfulness to the logo that’s absent from a great deal of design these days. What it lacks in scalability and printing practicality, it more than makes up for in personality. It captures the energy and spirit of the label perfectly. Excellent stuff.

Since Hopscotch launched in 2005, they’ve grown to be one of the largest and most respected DVD distributors in the country, with a dedication to delivering quality and innovative film entertainment. Mark Gowing‘s ongoing design work (from branding to packaging design) is some of the strongest and most beautiful produced in the last 10 years. Experimental, conceptual, and restrained, it succeeds in appealing to a wide audience without pandering to them. The power in the brand is that when you see the masterful grid-based packaging design in stores, or one of the idents flickr to life on the screen, you know that you are about to watch a great film.

While it may seem fairly innocuous to the average citizien, I can’t think of a design that has sparked more debate in the Australian design community than this new logo for the city of Melbourne. Spearheading the debate is the fact that the logo was designed by the Sydney branch of Landor, much to the chargrin of Victoria’s many graphic designers. This is understandable as the Victorian design community is proud, passionate and boasts some of the countrys best. There is also much discussion about the merits of the design – whether or not it accurately represents the city, and what value there was in completely replacing the previous logo. Personally, I love it. I can appreciate how some might perceive it as being generic, but it is bold, progressive and translates beautifully across all the requisite materials.

Before I sign off – here are a few relevant links that are well worth checking out.

Re:collection is a growing collection of vintage Australian design, run by the most excellent Hofstede. I highly recommend subscribing via RSS or at least bookmarking this site.

Pip & Co— in addition to being one of the finest and most adventurous studios in the country, they have a blog which features some terrific editorial and dialogue about Australian design.

Symbols of Australia is a book which has collected numerous examples of Australian design & commercial art from throughout the past 200 years. A wonderfully ambitious project that’s well worth supporting.

And finally I have a list of my top ten Australian album covers in the latest issue of Cyclic Defrost, so if you haven’t already picked up a copy, you can download one from the site.

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