Classics: New York Life, 1964

This classic logo for the New York Life Insurance Company was introduced fifty years ago this year. During those fifty years, New York Life has continued to grow to become one of leading life insurers in the world, but they kept the logo virtually unchanged. It was introduced in the autumn of 1964 and was commissioned from Lippincott & Margulies, the still-active New York branding firm now known as Lippincott.

The actual logo was designed by Raphael Boguslav (1929-2010) who was employed at L&M at the time and created several other classic marks. At first glance, it may seem a bit un-assuming, just three words stacked in a square. At the time, that solution was a bit more unusual.

Before this symbol was adopted, New York Life had used an oval badge with the initials NYLIC (introduced in 1954), and before that they used an engraving of an eagle feeding its offspring. The Nylic badge had several problems, foremost among them was that it was not recognised outside the company. The fact that it was far from uniformly applied added to this problem.

L&M recommended that the company switch from the unclear Nylic moniker to the more natural sounding New York Life. The typography was inspired by Roman lettering, bringing a classic sensibility. A launch campaign and consistent application ensured that it became well established among both agents and the public at large.

Classics: Air Canada, 1964

Air Canada is the largest airline in Canada, founded in 1937 as Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA), a name it kept using until about fifty years ago when the current name was adopted. Air Canada was originally the French name for the airline, used in conjunction with the TCA moniker for several years until the latter was dropped in 1964, legally changing the airline's name on January 1, 1965.

Part of that transformation was the development of a new corporate identity, revealed to the public in October 1964. Air Canada contracted Stewart Morrison Roberts (later known as Stewart & Morrison), one of Canada's leading brand consultants at the time. They developed a modern identity draped in the national colours, red and white.

The logo is a new take on the encircled maple leaf and was designed by Hans Kleefeld, a German-born graphic designer who was creative director at SMR at the time. They naturally decided to keep the maple leaf, but stylised it and added a broken circle that starts at its stem. The lettering was designed to be uncluttered.