Obit: Lou Dorfsman, Design Chief at CBS, at 90

[CrankyYankee]

Mr. Dorfsman designed corporate advertising for CBS radio and television as well as the set for Walter Cronkite's newsroom. The writeup in the linked New York Times article contains some ad graphics that he created.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/nyregion/26dorfsman.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries&oref=slogin

 

[bpatrick]

Dorfsman is very much responsible for the CBS
"look" in graphics. Somebody correct me if I'm
wrong, but Bill Golden designed the CBS eye.
His original conception was an oscilloscope, but
someone--possibly Frank Stanton--told him that
people wouldn't know what that was. The result
was--and is--one of the most recognized corporate
symbols.

I find it interesting that CBS has used the eye since
1951, ABC its lower-case logo since 1962, and NBC
the peacock (with some interruptions and design
changes) since 1956.

 

[uncamark]

Dorfsman is very much responsible for the CBS
"look" in graphics. Somebody correct me if I'm
wrong, but Bill Golden designed the CBS eye.
His original conception was an oscilloscope, but
someone--possibly Frank Stanton--told him that
people wouldn't know what that was. The result
was--and is--one of the most recognized corporate
symbols.

However, the oscilloscope was used for some CBS branding in the 50s, most notably the news department--the oscilloscope was used to introduce Douglas Edwards' nightly newscast. Of course, it was the eye that endured.