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Title
Olivettti

Designer
Walter Ballmer

Firm
Olivetti

Year
1970

Client
Olivetti

Medium
Logotype

Notes
The fifth redesign of the Olivetti logotype—following the swishy one of 1923 by Camillo Olivetti, those of 1934 and 1947 by Xanti Schawinsky, and the clumsy one by Giovanni Pintori from 1960. Being a typewriter manufacturer, Olivetti gave great importance to the design of its logotype “with the belief that the typestyle not only reflect the spirit of a particular age but express the corporation’s contemporary concerns” [Richard Baird]. Part of an entire corporate identity redesign program, the logotype developed by Walter Ballmer after an extensive formal research provided boldness, distinctiveness and recognizability, without mimicking any particular typewriter font but effectively suggesting the idea of mechanical writing and standardized typography. The logotype was consistently used across the company’s communication including posters, adverts, flyers as well as on the typewriters themselves. The effectiveness and timelessness of Ballmer’s logotype have since been proven by its longevity, still being in use today. [NMM]

Title
Olivettti

Designer
Walter Ballmer

Firm
Olivetti

Year
1970

Client
Olivetti

Medium
Logotype

Notes
The fifth redesign of the Olivetti logotype—following the swishy one of 1923 by Camillo Olivetti, those of 1934 and 1947 by Xanti Schawinsky, and the clumsy one by Giovanni Pintori from 1960. Being a typewriter manufacturer, Olivetti gave great importance to the design of its logotype “with the belief that the typestyle not only reflect the spirit of a particular age but express the corporation’s contemporary concerns” [Richard Baird]. Part of an entire corporate identity redesign program, the logotype developed by Walter Ballmer after an extensive formal research provided boldness, distinctiveness and recognizability, without mimicking any particular typewriter font but effectively suggesting the idea of mechanical writing and standardized typography. The logotype was consistently used across the company’s communication including posters, adverts, flyers as well as on the typewriters themselves. The effectiveness and timelessness of Ballmer’s logotype have since been proven by its longevity, still being in use today. [NMM]