The Branding of Polaroid - The Inside Story
by Adrian Hanft, (6 comments)
Paul Giambarba was the first art director for the Polaroid Corporation. His blog, “The Branding of Polaroid” tells of his experience as a designer at Polaroid from 1957-1977. It is a fascinating journey from the first logo redesign in 1957 through the instant movie film failure of 1977. You really get a designer’s perspective as you follow Paul through the highs and lows of one of the most innovative and influential companies in the history of photography.
Another highlight of the site is a memo from Ansel Adams called “Typographic design in relation to visual sales impact” criticizing Polaroid’s packaging. Although he was a major consultant of Polaroid’s, it still seems a bit arrogant to hear him tell the designer, “I would like to see such titles as Type 52, 4x6 packets, field tank, 545 adapter, etc. (along with POLAROID) visible from a greater distance.” That is a nice way of saying, “make the type bigger.” Nevertheless, it is interesting to read how sensitive Ansel Adams was to the graphic design of Polaroid and Kodak’s packaging.
Comments (6)
clinton carlson said:
I find it interesting that Polaroid was once mispronounced. Having grown up with it as an established brand, and with commonly used words like Äústeroid,Äù I would never have anticipated that. It gives hope to brands like Scion and the Volkswagen Touareg.
The importance of easy spelling and pronunciation of brands has been heightened by the internet, but does it really affect the success of an international brand? Do people really give up trying to find your website after one failed attempt? Do they really not recognize the product on the shelf because they read Äúpoyle-a-rodeÄù but are looking for a brand named Äúpole-a-roydÄù?
The much bigger challenge is getting them to look for your product in the first place. Once you accomplish that, does a little bit of ambiguity really hurt you? Can it actually be used to your advantage over time… Give your brand an exotic feel? Create a bit of mystery? Create a sort of exclusivity to the brand?
Posted on August 4, 2005
Adrian said:
Clint, I also thought it was interesting that Paul, the designer, still considers Polaroid to be an “irrelevant” name. I think it is a good name, but I can’t remember a time when Polaroid wasn’t a household name.
In the same post that we ripped Seth Godin a new one for praising stock logos, he says the following:
“Imagine a classroom in 1912 with kids named Elvis, Ronald, Margaret, Donald and Madonna in it. You wouldn’t know who to make fun of first. It seems as though the abstract quality of a name or a logo (both blank slates) is not as important as what you do with it.
This advice doesn’t hold for non-abstract names or images, naturally. But those are worth less, in my humble opinion.”
Posted on August 4, 2005
Michael Bierut said:
The great thing about Paul Giambarba’s site is that it documents a part of design history that otherwise would disappear, or be limited to an image or two at best. When you think about the enormous amount of graphic design that is produced, and how little of it is preserved (never mind documented or critically assessed), you realize that what we consider design history is so dangerously thin that it is nearly random. The biggest surprise is that so much of the Polaroid material looks really fresh. What else is out there?
Posted on August 4, 2005
Paul Giambarba said:
I would like to compliment you all for your thoughtful comments. I can count the number of such that I’m aware of on the fingers of one hand. It’s reassuring to read that you think that some of the material still looks fresh. Focus groups and corporate bean counters have done a lot to discourage sending work off to one-man shops as mine was (and still is today).
Posted on August 5, 2005
shannon. said:
I actually bought an old Poloroid LandCamera that uses the flash cubes and it came in its original box…with the rainbow blanket around it. It was so rad opening that dingy brown box to see the rainbow…I treasure my Poloroid, it has become my new obsession.
Posted on August 9, 2005
Lecram Reibrab said:
My native language is Spanish, then I did learn English and then Portuguese. I am wonder you guys been so creative don’t have a multilingual site where different language speaking can share our cretive with you.
Posted on August 13, 2005