So, who did design our favourite logo?
Our current issue features CR’s top 20 logos of all time. The Woolmark is our number one, but mystery surrounds the identity of its designer
Sign in
Latest from CR
The stories embedded in the design of homes
The Museum of the Home’s new displays put storytelling at the centre and illustrate how our homes are rich with design and cultural history
How to make a thrilling sports promo
Sky Creative’s Simon Cole explains the process behind making sports promos, including how to appeal to younger audiences and why he takes parodies on the chin
Ikea Norway introduces the Trash Collection
Ikea’s latest sustainability push sees the brand repurpose furniture that has been found as trash on the street, to be sold in a new secondhand store
The role of the sketchbook in creative work
Despite the dominance of digital, the humble sketchbook is still a vital tool in making creative work. Here, we speak to three creatives about how working in a sketchbook is an important part of their process and also their favourite books to work in
Greg Williams on the art of the candid shot
The photographer discusses his journey from documenting war zones to capturing candid moments of some of the biggest celebs on the planet, plus why the best images often aren’t technically perfect
Unrecognised and unloved: Patrick Burgoyne on the state of creative education
Education is vital to the UK’s phenomenally successful creative industries. Yet its value to the country appears to be going unrecognised in the government’s plans
The colourful world of Autumn de Wilde
The photographer and director has injected striking palettes into fashion photos, celebrity portraits, vibrant ads and her feature-length debut, Emma. She talks to us about navigating these different arenas and building worlds through music and colour
Ryan Reynolds creates a Father’s Day cocktail: The Vasectomy
Reynolds brings his irreverent advertising approach to Father’s Day with a new cocktail for dads, featuring a good slug of Aviation Gin, natch
Why the time has come for game title sequences to shine
Territory Studio’s Andrew Popplestone discusses the evolution of games credits and title sequences, and how they’re moving ever closer to the world of film
Why it pays for brands to go local
In an age of turbulence, brands are seeing the benefits of a localised approach over a global one. Here, Ben Sillence, strategy director at Lewis Moberly, explores what this may mean for designers and creatives
Can we design a more sustainable internet?
With the internet now accounting for roughly the same amount of carbon emissions as global air travel, we look at what designers can do to help tackle our digital waste problem
Early 2000s nightlife in all its chaotic, shiny glory
Matthew Smith’s new book brings together his photographs taken across the flourishing British nightlife scene at the turn of the millennium
Tony Barry on why advertising should move people
The director and former Wieden + Kennedy creative director looks back on the lessons he’s learned about peeling back the ‘veneer’ of advertising to make people laugh, cry, and truly believe in what they’re watching
Cephas Williams project features letters from Black boys to their future selves
The letters are addressed by the children to their older selves, and detail the world that they’d like to see in the future. The project, which will appear on billboards in the UK, is created to mark the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder
The ups and downs of being a hybrid creative
In today’s complex media landscape, creatives are often expected to work across multiple mediums. CR speaks to those who’ve broadened their practice to understand the benefits and challenges of the multi-disciplinary life
Behind the punchy covers of SZ Magazin
The weekly German newspaper supplement has a track record of publishing abstract and playful images. We talk to Thomas Kartsolis and Birthe Steinbeck from the art direction team about risk, deadlines and the joy of analogue tricks
Ask Anna: How do I find a creative partner?
Our resident creative industry agony aunt tackles an age-old question from a reader: how to find a good work partner? Here she offers a range of solutions, including polyamory
K-Y’s sex-positive campaign champions female masturbation
To celebrate National Masturbation Month in the US, Elephant has created a series of billboards for K-Y to remove the stigma attached to female pleasure
The unstoppable rise of sneaker culture
A new show at the Design Museum is tracing the journey of the sneaker from sportswear staple to cultural icon. We explore how the marketing strategies of the biggest brands in the game have evolved hand-in-hand with the $80 billion industry
Has the ad industry improved for women directors?
Women filmmakers have racked up long overdue accolades in recent film and TV awards. But what is the state of play in the commercial world?
John Hegarty on advertising’s automated future
We speak to the adland legend about his new gig as chairman of AI recruitment company Genie, plus how he thinks the industry will need to adapt post-Covid
New Nike ad celebrates being rubbish at sport
Nike’s new ad is part of a campaign titled Play New, which emphasises the joy of taking part in sport, even if you’re a bit crap at it
How Xbox is getting accessibility right
From releasing its adaptive controller to tackling loneliness in older people, Xbox has proved how much creative scope there is for brands that commit to accessibility
Inside the UK’s biggest content house
Envisioned as Big Brother for the TikTok generation, content houses have become a mecca for influencer marketing in the US. So is the UK ready to follow suit?
The Annual 2021: Trends and observations
Last year was dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, but we also saw a number of other trends and developments emerge in the commercial creative industries. Here, we examine what they might suggest for the future
A new film wants to make people angry about period poverty
Hey Girls has released a chaotic campaign film directed by Margot Bowman, which aims to rile up viewers as a way of driving action
I do not remember who told me … but there is an interesting anecdote about how Grignani final project logo. For days the idea was turning in his head, but he could not find thefinal solution. But one night, in a “pizzeria” Grignani took a fork and, on the paper tablecloth, rotated it three times.
sergio Olivotti
If the woolmark logo was created as shown using brush and ink – is this a skill that has been lost to mankind with the onset of computers? I know my hand to eye co-ordination would never manage such crisp edges.
I was PR director for the Intrernational Wool Secretariat from 1976 to1982. This was well after the Woolmark’s launch. My recollection is that the design was aways credited internally to Francesco Seroglia, and that he had worked in the Italian branch of the IWS – but who knows with th Italians? Also, there was some bad feeling among other entrants to the competition because the rules had stipulated that the new logo should not visibly represent wool, which it clearly did. Picking up on another comment, the IWS was not such an innocuous organisation. It was generousy funded by the woolgrowers of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, to compete with the huge marketing budgets, at that time, of the synthetic fibre industry. The IWS was responsible for much award-winning advertising around the world, including inthe UK through Davidson Pearce. And the Woolmark featured regularly near the top in lists of best-recognised logos. It was one of the first, if not the first, external logos to be adopted by Marks & Spencer.
italian pride, great post! thanks CR
Yes, great stuff indeed and a wonderful logo that deserves the honour of being the best! Yes, it is also true that way back when it was all done by hand.
I designed the Habitat logo (not quite in the same league as the woolmark identity) encompassing two chairs, a table and a pendant light positioned in a house(shed) shaped image from an original pencil doodle executed by Terence Conran / Oliver Gregory. Those days are long gone, thankfully, when you couldn’t just hit the save button; just had to bite hard, throw the almost complete drawing in the bin, start all over again and pray that hopefully errors would not happen more than once!
Hats off to the true designer of this very complicated logo to draw, his obvious artisan skill, determination and patience!
If it was a competition and it was won by Francesco Saroglia then he designed it.
Thats provenance enough for anyone.
Its likely proffesionals were not allowed to enter the logo competition. So he either made him up or used his friend to enter it alone.
You would have to ask to see the original Woolmark logo competitions T&C’s to answer that question.
My favorite logo too.
Good article.
The logo/design and the typography is just great. It reads perfectly small and large.
When I first saw it (years ago) my jaw dropped. A perfect blend of “Op-Art” for a business application.
Love the old school inking, too. No command Z.
Love that image of the logo being inked in by hand…those were the days 🙂
I’ve seen the work credited to Franco Grignani in quite a few Italian graphic journals from around the time it was designed, a quick look at the rest of his work (http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurapopdesign/sets/72157618721485468/) would convince most people it’s his. Also one of my favorites.
@Alison Bates – That’s remarkable!
I think I would be pursuing a completely different career had I been a part of that generation 😛
So you might say that provenance is a bit WOOLLY then?!!
(and to the Giant Squib above: ) Yes, thank god we don’t have to colour things in nowadays. My mum was in advertising in the 60’s and she tells me her first job was just to paint the red on Peter Stuyvesant logos, every day!
I agree with Giant Squib. It reminds me of when I proudly told my future father-in-law I was a graphic designer, and it transpired that he was a designer when “cut and paste” and “airbrushing” actually meant just that!
The top image showing the logo being inked by hand stresses me out just at the thought of a mistake!
Its amazing the skills they used back then before the ease of Photoshop and the like.
Awesome.
I read this article in the magazine just yesterday and found it fascinating. The whole issue is one of the most engrossing I’ve read and I’m not even on CR’s payroll!
Top voted logo in the UK and designed with a fork!
The one thing that I still find amazing and that no one else has commented on is that this is a logo for a fairly inoqueous organisation.
It’s not like the woolmark is a major high street or business brand. It’s a organisation that oversees an industry & that when you see this logo your trust level is supposed to increase.
I think that adds even more credibility and weight to the argument for it being the best there is.
Hat’s off to whoever really did it.
If @frederico’s story is true, then it makes sense. The logo bears resemblance to his op-art.
Very interesting.
I was lucky enough to meet Grignani in the ’80s when he came to teach at a postgraduate design course in Milan. I remember he presented the Woolmark logo as his own, showing us sketches and work in progress leading to its final form. Alas I have no evidence to show for it, so can’t really help to solve the ‘mystery’. On the other hand I would have to see rather convincing proof to the contrary to change my belief that Grignani is the only and true designer of the Woolmark!
I look forward to the next episode.
Interesting article!
I also begrudgingly like the fact that crowdsourcing was in practice in 1963.