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Design at CBS Author(s): Dennis P. Doordan Source: Design Issues, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Spring, 1990), pp. 4-17 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1511432 . Accessed: 06/08/2014 00:30

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Dennis P. Doordan

Design at CBS

The CBS "eye" is an icon of the television age and one of the most successful American logos of the modern era (Figure 1). This simple strong design, centered within the box-like frame of a television screen, is successful because it is instantly recognizable;

_ _ Agll^ _ it conveys quickly and unambiguously the information that one is watching the CBS television network. The flexibility of William

Fig. 1) William Golden, CBS Eye, Golden's original design for the CBS eye is another factor in the *~1951. ~success of this corporate coat-of-arms. Since its introduction in

1951, the eye has appeared in black and white and in color, by itself and as part of a sequence of images, in print ads and in animation (Figure 2). The CBS eye is a powerful example of the ability of designers - graphic artists, industrial designers, and architects to provide a distinctive visual identity for a corporation.

The eye is not an isolated instance of graphic achievement at CBS; it is, rather, part of a long-established tradition of memorable design produced by talented designers working under the aegis of the Columbia Broadcasting System. The tradition and the history of sensitivity to the role of visual design at CBS comprise the subject of this case study. The graphic designer Paul Rand describes corporate logos and trademarks as symbols, and he notes that:

Symbols are a duality. They take on meanings from causes-good and bad. And they give meaning to causes-good and bad. The flag is a symbol of a country. The cross is a symbol of a religion. The swastika was a symbol of good luck until its meaning was changed.... The trademark is a symbol of a corporation. It is not a sign of quality, it is a sign of the quality.... A trademark is

1) Paul Rand, A Designer's Art (New created by a designer but made by a corporation.1 Haven: Yale University Press, 1985): 24.

How CBS made its own distinctive visual identity and what quality it is that CBS wishes to convey through its corporate design efforts, rather than the stylistic pedigrees of individual images and designs, is what is of concern.

As in any case study, there are certain circumstances, person- alities, and operations that are specific to the case at hand and that, taken together, constitute the unique history of the subject under

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\Me have an eye for the ladies

anid they have an eve

for us

Fig. 2) Lou Dorfsman, CBS Eye as

part of a trade advertisement, Variety, May 4, 1960.

I presented an earlier version of this article in May 1989, in a series devoted to the topic of corporate culture, at the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society, of the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware. I wish to thank Dr. Glenn Porter, director of the Hagley Museum and Library, and Professors Roland Marchand and Mona Domash for their constructive criticisms. I also wish to thank Lou Dorfsman, Adrian Murphy, and Florence Miller Rickard for their suggestions.

2) For a history of the radio broadcast

industry, see: Erik Barnouw, A Tower in Babel, vol. 1, and The Golden Web, vol. 2 of A History ofBroadcasting in the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966 & 1968). Barnouw has also written a good one-volume history of television, entitled Tube of Plenty. The Evolution of American Television (New York: Oxford University Press, 1975). Also see: Lawrence Lichty and Malachi C. Topping, American Broadcasting. A Source Book on the History of Radio and Television (New York: Hastings House, 1975).

3) For more on Sarnoff and RCA, see: Eugene Lyons, David Sarnoff. A Bio- graphy (Garden City, NJ: Doubleday, 1979), and Robert Sobel, RCA (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987).

consideration. One can also, however, look beyond the specifics of the example under review and ask, what light does this case study shed on the larger issues surrounding design and corporate culture in America? There are at least three questions worth considering in this regard: (1) What is the role of visual design - both two- and three-dimensional design - in corporate planning and culture? What tasks have designers been asked to perform? (2) When a conflict arises between corporate policy or goals and the design vision of individual designers, how is this conflict resolved? (3) What are the cultural implications of modern corporate design for American society?

Appreciating the history and tradition of corporate design at CBS necessitates knowing something of the history of the

industry.2 Broadcasting began as a makeshift operation staffed by amateur radio enthusiasts. Corporate design as an integral part of the broadcast industry simply did not exist; indeed, the broad-

casting industry as we understand it today did not exist. Instead, individuals or small groups of radio "buffs" broadcast to small, local audiences for a few hours each day or week from crude facilities located in converted garages or from the rooftop of a local highrise. This was the era of the pioneers of radio broad-

casting. If the history of technology rather than design was the

subject of this article, it would be possible to identify a pattern here - tentative, local beginnings nurtured by inspired inventors and dedicated amateurs - with strong parallels to other experi- ences, such as the development of the automobile, the airplane, and the camera.

Two men are responsible for managing the transition of

broadcasting from the era of pioneers to the era of national

broadcasting prominence: David Sarnoff, the father of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), and William S. Paley, the founder of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). Their

backgrounds, interests, and management styles are crucial factors that must be taken into account in any discussion of the growth and direction of the broadcast industry. Backed by the Radio

Corporation of America, Westinghouse, and General Electric, Sarnoff built NBC into the larger and richer of the two networks. RCA was the world's largest distributor of radio receivers (it handled receivers manufactured by G.E. and Westinghouse as well as its own product line) and supported NBC in hopes of

stimulating the sale of radios. Sarnoff began as a radio man in the era of the pioneers and had a strong personal affinity for the technical side of broadcasting. NBC always enjoyed a superiority in the technical aspects of radio and, later, in television.3

William Paley, on the other hand, was a wealthy businessman, not a technician. His earliest involvement with radio was as an advertiser. He sponsored a music program on a small East Coast network, called United Independent Broadcasters (UIB), to

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4) For Paley's own account of his career, see: William S. Paley, As It Happened (Garden City, NJ: Doubleday, 1979). Also see: Lewis J. Paper, Empire. William S. Paley and the Making of CBS (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987).

5) Paley, As It Happened, 67.

promote the sales of the Paley family cigar business.4 In 1928 Paley purchased UIB and renamed it CBS. In addition to his business interest in the new communication medium of broadcasting, Paley was interested in the visual arts. He traveled frequently to Paris, and under the tutelage of such friends as Averell Harriman and John Hay "Jock" Whitney and his art consultant, Albert Skira, Paley began to assemble an impressive collection of French Impressionsist and Postimpressionist paintings. In 1937, he was invited to join the Museum of Modern Art's Board of Trustees and, eventually, in 1968, he became chairman of the MoMA board. Paley's discerning attention to design at CBS reflects his own personal passion for the visual arts as well as his professional concern with corporate image.

As head of the Columbia Broadcasting System, William Paley exercised ultimate authority regarding the company's design decisions, but he was not the only management figure intimately involved with forging the design identity of CBS. Another key figure at CBS was Paul Kesten. Kesten came to the network in 1930, from a career in advertising. His position at the network was described by one former employee as "vice-president in charge of the future." Kesten was not an operations manager. Rather, his role was that of a "concepts" man, responsible for a wide range of ideas concerning every aspect of the network. Describing his relationship with Kesten, Paley recalled: "We saw eye to eye from the start on the importance of design and good taste."5

A third crucial person in the development of CBS was Frank Stanton. The son of a high school Industrial Arts teacher, Stanton joined the CBS Research Department in 1935, after completing a Ph.D. in Psychology at Ohio State. He rose quickly in the organization and, in 1946, upon Kesten's retirement for health reasons, Stanton was named president of CBS, a position he held until his own retirement in 1973. In his capacity as chief operating officer, Stanton was intimately involved in design decision- making at CBS, even more involved, according to former CBS employees, than Paley himself. It was Stanton, for example, who was responsible for saving the CBS eye. In his account of the design of the new logo for CBS television, William Golden, then creative director at CBS and the designer responsible for developing the original concept of the eye, described presenting the new design to a group of CBS executives who expressed mixed reactions.

But one man's reaction was immediate and decisive. And that was Frank Stanton, the president of CBS. In fact, a year later, when I timidly suggested we abandon it and do something else (for in this world of "show business," you are under constant temptation to change for the sake of change alone) he reminded me of an old advertising

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6) William Golden, "My Eye," Print (June 1959) reprinted in C. P. Golden, Kurt Weils, and Robert Strunsky, editors, The Visual Craft of William Golden (New York: Braziller, 1962): 155.

7) Until 1941, NBC actually operated two networks: NBC Red and NBC Blue. The FCC ordered NBC to divest itself of one of its networks. Edward J. Noble, the Lifesaver candy king, bought NBC Blue and renamed it the American Broad- casting Company (ABC).

8) See, for example, Paley, As It Happened: 67.

9) Author's interview with William S. Paley, June 14, 1983.

axiom. Just when you're beginning to get bored with what you have done is probably the time it is beginning to be noticed by your audience. So I suspect that the keen eye of Stanton and his sensible decision to stay with it, are more responsible for the success of the "eye" than I am.6

Golden's generous acknowledgment of Stanton's role serves to remind us that histories of corporate design efforts that fail to take into account the often active participation of the corporate leadership in design campaigns will remain flawed and incomplete.

There is also a legislative aspect to the history of the broadcast industry that must be considered in order to do justice to the complexity of the story of design at CBS. The Federal Radio Act of 1927 established the legislative basis of broadcasting. The Radio Act specifically repudiated private ownership of the airwaves and created the Federal Radio Commission to manage the airwaves in the public interest. Private stations had to obtain a license to use prescribed segments of the public airwaves. To maintain their licenses, the networks had to demonstrate responsible management of the public airwaves - they had to be "good citizens" - and, therefore, they had to be conscious of their public image.

From the very beginning of his tenure as head of CBS, Paley recognized the necessity of projecting a positive image to several different constituencies. In addition to the general public and its appointed representatives on regulatory bodies, there were other, equally important constituencies Paley needed to address: the broadcast industry itself and the sponsors of broadcast pro- gramming. Both in terms of physical and financial resources, the fledgling CBS network was a distant second to the larger NBC networks.7 To compensate for the discrepancy in size and wealth between NBC and CBS, Paley decided to project an image of CBS as a young vibrant company on the rise.8 His professional concern with conveying a certain kind of image dovetailed neatly with his personal interest in modern art and design. In an interview, Paley talked about what he perceived as an affinity between modern design - the kind of design he commissioned for CBS - and the broadcast industry. CBS's self-image was that of a progressive and innovative company in a progressive and growing industry. For Paley, modern architecture and design had a "look" (Paley's own word) expressive of the most progressive aspects of contemporary culture.9

This concern with achieving a distinctive corporate look extended to every aspect of the operation. Since its inception, one of the primary tasks of design at CBS has been to project a positive, confident, competent image of the corporation to its diverse constituency composed of federal regulators, commercial sponsors, company employees, others in the broadcasting in-

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Fig. 3) Early Broadcast Studio, Pittsburgh, PA, 1921.

10) For a detailed account of Lescaze's involvement with CBS, see: Dennis P. Doordan, "William Lescaze and CBS: A Case Study in Corporate Modernism," William Lescaze and the Rise of Modern Design in America, a special issue of Courier 19 (Spring 1984). For an account of Lescaze's career, see: Lorraine Lan- mon, William Lescaze, Architect (Phila- delphia: Art Alliance Press, 1987); Chris- tian Hubert and Lindsay S. Shapiro, William Lescaze (New York: Rizzoli, 1982).

Fig. 4) William Lescaze, Control Booth, Columbia Radio Playhouse, New York, 1934.

dustry, as well as to the general public. CBS executives have consistently used design to communicate. To the extent that design can structure our perception of a corporation and reinforce the self-image a company wishes - or needs - to project, it is indeed an effective tool for shaping not only the public image but the internal culture of a corporation.

A second important role for designers at CBS has been that of problem-solvers. The production and broadcasting of programs presented the industry with a host of practical problems involving the physical design of studio spaces. Early studios were makeshift facilities housed in old garages or empty theaters. Engineers often draped fabric within these converted spaces to eliminate echo effects or otherwise modify the acoustical properties of the studios. Potted plants and flower arrangements bestowed a genteel atmosphere to these primitive facilities and represented the only concessions to considerations of anything besides technical and acoustical demands (Figure 3).

In addition to working with acoustical engineers, CBS turned to talented architects and industrial designers for assistance in designing more functionally and expressively satisfactory studios. In the mid-1930s, William Paley established a working relationship with the important American modernist William Lescaze. Lescaze was born and educated in Switzerland and came to the United States in the early 1920s. His collaboration, beginning in 1929, with the architect George Howe on the design of the PSFS skyscraper in Philadelphia established Lescaze as one of the foremost practitioners of modern architecture and design in America. His earliest work for CBS, in 1934, involved the conversion of an existing Broadway theater, leased by CBS, into a radio production facility.10

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Fig. 5) William Lescaze, Signage, Columbia Radio Playhouse, New York, 1934.

11) Raymond Hood, "The National Broad- casting Studios, New York," Architec- tural Record 64 (July 1928).

Fig. 6) Raymond Hood, NBC Broadcast Studio Project, New York, 1928.

Lescaze installed acoustical paneling and engineering control booths within the old theater. The stark character of Lescaze's additions contrasted strongly with the ornate interior of the old theater in a manner that boldly proclaimed the novelty of the new medium of radio (Figures 4 and 5). From the very beginning of his involvement with CBS, Lescaze made no attempt to disguise or camouflage the new forms required by radio facilities. Instead, he identified the essential components of a broadcast studio and sought an appropriate set of forms for the task. He positioned the control booth to provide easy immediate visual contact between the control booth staff and the performers. The STAND BY and ON THE AIR signs are prominently positioned for maximum visibility and the all-important studio clock is isolated for easy reading. The form, location, and graphic design of every detail is carefully considered to ensure that necessary information is conveyed clearly and quickly.

This is a major change from the original and far more primitive studio environments described earlier. Lescaze's early work for CBS also contrasted with the approach adopted by Raymond Hood in his slightly earlier designs for NBC (Figure 6). Hood reasoned that the broadcast performer lacked the stimulation of a traditional concert hall.1 He tried, therefore, to simulate the effect of an authentic concert hall through the use of theatrical lighting. He attempted to negate the obtrusive presence of the control booth by placing it to the rear of the stage and kept it within the plane of the wall. Hood's studios for NBC were actually mock-theaters. Lescaze's studios, in contrast, were conceived as radio broadcast studios, not dignified parlors (no potted plants here!) or imitation theaters.

In all of his work for CBS, Lescaze functioned as a member of an integrated team of technical experts, acoustical consultants, structural engineers, electricians, and advertising representatives. Lescaze was responsible for the design resolution of a variety of technical, commercial, public relations, and artistic concerns. His solutions reflected the corporate virtues of economy, efficiency, adaptability, and recognizability.

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12) The following account is based upon material preserved in Norman Bel Geddes papers on deposit in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas. I wish to thank Dr. W. H. Crain and the staff of the Ransom Center for their cooperation during my research.

13) Leopold Stokowski, "New Vistas in Radio," The Atlantic Monthly 155 (Jan- uary 1935).

14) A copy of Stokowski's article is preserved in the CBS project files on deposit in the Bel Geddes archives. For more on Sto- kowski's involvement with sound record- ing and broadcasting, see: Daniel Oliver, Stokowski (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1982).

15) Raymond Loewy, Never Leave Well Enough Alone (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1951): 277-81.

Like Paley, Kesten and Stanton were enthusiastic supporters of the new modern style of architecture and design. Given the typically progressive orientation of the corporate leadership at CBS in matters of design, it would seem that the relationship between top management and progressive designers would be a smooth and mutually satisfactory one. Such was not the case, however, as Norman Bel Geddes's experience with CBS demon- strates.'2 In January 1935, CBS commissioned the flamboyant industrial designer to prepare a report detailing the optimal design solutions for radio broadcasting studios in light of current operations and anticipated technological improvements with the understanding that this study of the ideal studio was a prelude to future commissions. Bel Geddes offered two major suggestions regarding the future form of broadcasting facilities.

First, he advocated that future broadcasting facilities be planned as part of larger entertainment centers, complete with dining and dancing rooms, lecture halls, and outdoor gardens. Here Bel Geddes was following the lead of the famous conductor Leopold Stokowski, an early radio enthusiast. In January 1935, Stokowski published an article, entitled "New Vistas in Radio," in the Atlantic Monthly.'3 Stokowski described his participation in recent experiments at the Bell Telephone laboratories involving sound transmission at various frequencies. He then went on to describe his vision of elaborate recreation centers, including performing and visual arts facilities, athletic fields, restaurants, and gardens.14

Second, Bel Geddes predicted steady improvements in the quality of sound recordings and recommended that CBS conceive of future studios as "sound laboratories" that would involve the broadcasting of pre-recorded music and programs and the gradual elimination of live audiences. Studios would shrink in size as provisions for audience seating were eliminated, and the engin- eering facilities would increase in size as more and more of the program was manipulated electronically. Bel Geddes argued that shifting to an increasingly automated studio would generate substantial economies.

Whatever the merits of his proposals were, the Bel Geddes report was quickly and firmly rejected by Paley and Kesten. Indeed, CBS terminated the contract after only a few months. The minutes of meetings, preserved in the Bel Geddes archives, make it painfully clear that, in 1935, the top management of CBS was not prepared to abandon the idea that a live audience was a crucial ingredient of the CBS approach to programming or the network's commitment to broadcasting live, not pre-recorded, programs. Bel Geddes had violated what one of his contemporaries, the industrial designer Raymond Loewy, called the MAYA principle.'5

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16) For more on the KNX facility, see: "CBS Broadcasting Studio Hollywood, Cali- fornia," Architectural Forum 68 (June 1938): 454-64.

1 '~ Fi~~l~ '

Fig. 7) William Lescaze, CBS Station KNX, Hollywood, CA, 1936-38, exterior.

17) Quote by Paley in As It Happened: 116.

MAYA is an acronym for MOST ADVANCED YET AC- CEPTABLE. The MAYA principle comes into play when a designer's vision - his prophecy if you will - conflicts with

company practice. Bel Geddes had proposed something not yet acceptable to his clients.

Corporate design is not a democratic process in which differ- ences can be negotiated and compromises reached. Nor is it a world in which the designer reigns supreme and acts as final arbiter of artistic differences. In corporate culture, designers perform a service role and serve at the discretion of others. Their work, their decisions, and their visions of the future are subject to review and amendment by the leadership of the corporation. As Paul Rand

points out, designers create possibilities but it is the corporation, not the designer, that makes its own identity.

Although Bel Geddes's involvement with CBS was brief, it was not totally without effect. In 1937 CBS began construction on station KNX, the new West Coast headquarters for the network.16

Designed by William Lescaze, the KNX complex in Hollywood included studio and office space for radio operations; it also included a restaurant and several trendy shops. The extra, non- radio facilities generated some additional revenue for the network, but more important, it represented a step in the direction of the

type of recreational complex Bel Geddes had described (Figures 7 and 8).

Fig. 8) William Lescaze, CBS Station KNX, Hollywood, CA, 1936-38, rendering of a broadcast studio.

Lescaze's design solution to the myriad practical problems was flexible, efficient, and uncompromisingly modern. The trade journal Radio Daily described the new facility, named Columbia Square, as: "technically and physically . .. perhaps the most advanced radio home in the world today."17 Once again, CBS

designers had solved operational problems and projected the desired image of a sophisticated and progressive company on the move.

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The advent of television after World War II opened a dramatic new chapter in the story of broadcasting. The new form of

broadcasting presented the industry with all the challenges attendant upon the introduction of a new technology. But the

history of technology and the history of design are two separate tracks within the history of corporate America. The change in broadcast technology altered the technical parameters within which certain functional problems had to be solved, and the cast of

designers working for CBS changed with the passage of time. These changes, however, did not generate a corresponding change in the corporate design agenda. Design was still a team effort.

Designers were still asked to perform the same tasks - solve

practical problems and project a desired image - and designers still had to observe the MAYA principle. The parallels between the design programs of radio and television studio facilities are

very strong: the demand for flexible space; the preference for clear, direct expression of the nature of the problem; and the strikingly modern style of the results at CBS are evident in both.

Fig. 9) Pereira & Luckman, CBS Television City, Hollywood, CA, 1951-52.

18) For additional information on Television City, see: "CBS TV City Starts," A rchi- tectural Forum (May 1952): 101-10.

19) Pereira, for example, is one of only a handful of American architects to ever be the subject of a Time magazine cover story. See: Time 82 (September 6, 1963).

20) In a related example of the value CBS placed on commissioning work from

In 1951, CBS began construction of Television City in Los

Angeles (Figure 9)18. Ending more than a decade of collaboration between CBS and William Lescaze, Paley turned to the archi- tectural firm of Pereira and Luckman for the design of this major new facility. In the 1950s and 1960s, William Pereira was one of the stars of contemporary American architecture; his lifestyle as well as his work was profiled in both the popular and the professional press.19 The selection of Pereira and Luckman conformed to tie CBS custom of hiring nationally prominent designers whenever

possible.20 Pereira's partner, Charles Luckman, turned to architecture as a second career, after a first, and very successful business career as President of Pepsodent and, later, Lever

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recognizable designers, CBS, in 1948, once again commissioned Norman Bel Geddes as a production consultant to advise on the ideal format for television studios. Reporting the agreement in its April 7, 1948, issue, Variety noted: "Inking of Bel Geddes is regarded in the trade as a result of CBS board chairman William Paley's yen for big names." (Clipping preserved in the Bel Geddes archives.)

21) "The first time I called on a client, I talked to him as one businessman to another, and sold him on the idea of the uniqueness of our firm by saying . . . Pereira will be the architect and I'll be the businessman." Charles Luckman, Twice in a Lifetime: From Soap to Skyscrapers (New York: W. W. Norton, 1988): 278.

22) "The William Lescaze Symposium Panel

Discussion," Courier 19 (Spring 1984): 75.

23) For a comprehensive review of Dorfs- man's career, see: Dick Hess and Marion Muller, Dorfsman & CBS (New York: American Showcase, 1987).

24) Conversation with Lou Dorfsman, May 25, 1989.

25) In his memoirs, Bill Leonard, former president of CBS News, wrote: "Black Rock ... will be known forever among CBS people as Stanton's building." Bill Leonard, In the Storm of the Eye. A Lifetime at CBS (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1987), 178. For more information on Stanton's role in the development of the 51 West 52nd Street building, see: Paper, Empire: William S. Paley and the Making of CBS, 247-248.

Brothers. Luckman's earliest contact with William Paley came as a result of advertising, not architecture; he had sponsored a number of CBS radio programs as a way to promote Pepsodent toothpaste and, later, various soap products. After turning to architecture, Luckman approached potential corporate clients as one business man to another, as someone capable of translating business considerations into architectural form, because he was conversant with both the language of architecture and business.21 One former CBS employee recalled: "We had confidence in our ability to communicate with Mr. Luckman. He spoke our language, and because he also spoke an architect's language, he could translate, supposedly, our desires to Pereira."22

This ability to speak two languages is one of the crucial factors in the success of those designers who work within the corporate world. As Paul Rand reminds us, the corporation makes its own identity and it asks designers to translate that identity into workable forms that communicate a sense of the distinctive qualities of the corporation.

In 1946, CBS hired a young graphic designer named Lou Dorfsman.23 Dorfsman rose through the organization and even- tually became vice-president and creative director for advertising and design at CBS. He left his mark on virtually every aspect of the organization, ranging from the design of the letterhead, covers for annual reports to the stockholders, advertising graphics, and office interiors. After the death of William Golden in 1959, Dorfsman more than any other single designer created the visual identity of CBS and maintained the consistently high quality of graphic and industrial design throughout the company. In the 1960s, Dorfsman transformed the seventeenth-century typeface, Didot, into CBS's contemporary typographic "signature" (known as CBS Didot) used throughout the corporation.

Like Golden, Dorfsman is quick to credit Frank Stanton's role in the design decision-making process at CBS. Although Paley retained ultimate authority regarding design decisions, Dorfsman recalls, Stanton monitored the day-to-day operations and jealously maintained the CBS tradition of distinctive design.24 Stanton, for example, played an active role in the development of the new CBS headquarters designed by Eero Saarinen at 51 West 52nd Street in New York. Stanton convinced Paley to accept the selection of the dark stone used on the exterior of the building (the source of the building's nickname, Black Rock). It was also at Stanton's instigation that Dorfsman assumed responsibility for the graphics and many of the interiors at Black Rock.25 Lettering, signage, elevator panels, drop boxes - all those moments and places where one reads and comes into actual contact with a building - were carefully conceived and designed by Dorfsman to ensure the clarity of information and the stylish look that, by the mid-1960s, had become the undeniable marks of CBS design (Figure 10).

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26) For more on the design of CBS sta-

tionery, see: Hess and Muller, Dorfsman & CBS, 35.

Fig. 10) Lou Dorfsman, Signage, CBS Building, 51 West 52nd St., New York, 1964-65.

The move in 1965 to the new corporate headquarters at Black Rock was only part of a major design campaign within the

company, a campaign that was increasingly under the direct control of CBS in-house design staff rather than contracted out to free-lance designers. Lou Dorfsman, for example, standardized the letterheads on corporate stationery (Figures 11 and 12).26 No one below the rank of vice-president could have personalized stationery. He replaced the multiple typefaces, paper sizes, and

weights then in use with a limited selection. By buying standardized

supplies in huge quantities he was able to negotiate with the paper manufactures to substitute the CBS insignia for the paper

company's own watermark. Bulk ordering of the new stationery resulted in substantial savings. The result was both elegant and economical. In a company with most designers who work within the corporate framework, Dorfsman has always maintained that

good design is good business.

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Fig. 11) Lou Dorfsman, CBS Stationery, 1964-65.

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27) Paley, As It Happened, 224.

Not everyone within CBS accepted standardization of design and procedures as either good design or good business. In his memoir, Paley noted:

[Stanton] systematized various company procedures, chains of command, even office decor and the way CBS secretaries typed business letters. Some of the "creative" minds at CBS resented what they took to be a loss of their freedom and liberties, but most of what Frank instituted was necessary and gave a special quality to a growing company.27

But as CBS grew in size over the years, the standardization of design throughout the organization served another purpose in addition to achieving the economic benefits associated with the bulk ordering of materials. The careful crafting of a corporate look provided a visual anchor, a recognizable constant in a world of

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Fig. 12) Lou Dorfsman, CBS Stationery, 1964-65.

28) For a discussion of the growth of radio in the 1930s, see: Alice Goldfarb Marquis, "Written on the Wind: The Impact of Radio during the 1930s," Journal of Contemporary History 19 (July 1984): 385-415.

29) David Sarnoff, Looking Ahead. The Papers of David Sarnoff (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968): 52.

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explosive growth and incessant change. Design plays a major role in structuring our perception of the world. Through a consistent attitude toward design, a corporation can identify itself -

highlight the distinctive quality of the organization - both to those within and those without the organization.

The character of the corporate identity visualized by Paley, Stanton, Lescaze, Golden, and Dorfsman is a national one. The

Zip codes of CBS facilities change as one moves across the country but not the corporation's basic design presence. Regionalist touches have never had a place in CBS design programs, and here it is worth considering the implications of the design experience at CBS for American culture as a whole.

It was in the years between the world wars that the balance between regional and national cultures in the United States began to tip decidedly in favor of nationally recognizable forms of

expression. This shift affected more than a single industry or

group of designers; it affected Americans' sense of their national

identity. In the very same years that artists, such as Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton, were trying to preserve a regionalist flavor in American culture, broadcasting was slowly beginning to subvert regionalism as a significant phenomenon.28 William Paley and David Sarnoff masterminded the creation of truly national

broadcasting networks, and the leaders of the broadcasting industry recognized very early the implications of what they were

doing. In a 1924 speech, entitled "Radio and the Farmer," Sarnoff declared that beyond delivering news and entertainment, radio would help as follows:

To relieve the farmer and his family of the sense of isolation which is, perhaps, the harshest handicap of

agricultural life ... [and] to cope with class and sectional differences and develop greater national unity as between the farmer and other elements of our citizenship.29

National networks created the opportunity for Americans from coast to coast to hear the same news and listen to the same entertainment simultaneously. In 1922, there were 30 broadcast stations operating in the United States. After 25 years, there were 1,000 AM stations and 134 FM stations on the air and radio sets were in 93 per cent of American households. Time and distance no

longer separated Midwestern farmers and their families from a concert in New York or a football game in California. In only two and one-half decades, radio went from being a curiosity to being a fixture in virtually every American home. Broadcasting was a crucial force in the creation of a truly national culture. Through design, Paley, Kesten, and Stanton projected an image of CBS - and by extension, the entire broadcasting industry - as an

expansive and progressive phenomenon unhindered by parochial concerns or regional limits.

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30) See, for example, Philip B. Meggs, A History of Graphic Design (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1983): 425-27, and Arthur J. Pulos, The American De- sign Adventure 1940-1975 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1988): 274-76.

31) See, for example, William Golden's comments at the Ninth International Design Conference in Aspen, Colorado, June, 1959, reprinted in: C. P. Golden, The Visual Craft of William Golden, 57-81.

Between the early 1930s and the mid-1960s, CBS grew from a fledgling East Coast network into a broadcasting giant. During these same years, the CBS corporate leadership established a tradition of sensitivity to design and skillfully used design to project a dynamic image of the organization. The CBS look emphasized clarity, flexibility, and elegance. The story of design at CBS illustrates several important points of interest to design historians.

First, design serves a crucial purpose within corporate culture. Because design does much to structure our perception of the world around us, it is an effective vehicle for the transmission of a sense of corporate identity to multiple constituencies.

Second, the study of design in the corporation should begin, not with the designer, but with the leadership of the corporation, for it is the corporate leaders who set the design agenda. William S. Paley and his closest associates - Paul Kesten and Frank Stanton - had a clear conception of what they wished to project through design and to whom they wished to project it. Their continued commitment to design is responsible for the impressive accom- plishments of CBS design.

Third, having made the corporation, Paley and his associates turned to individuals with the special talents required to create the visual identity and solve the practical problems posed by design. William Golden, Lou Dorfsman, William Lescaze, and others are recognized by practitioners and historians alike as masters of their respective crafts. In textbooks and trade journals, their work for CBS is consistently singled out as outstanding examples of modern design.30 Their reputations added an additional lustre to the corporation they served.

Fourth, in exercising their talents these designers had to take into account a whole host of practical, material concerns, things such as budgets, existing technologies, available time, and allotted space. They also had to observe the MAYA principle, to extend but not exceed the limits established by the Most Advanced Yet Acceptable thinking of the moment. The MAYA principle establishes the boundary between avant-garde and corporate or commercial design.

Fifth, the designers who enjoyed the longest and most prolific relationship with CBS were those who managed to internalize the values of the corporate culture they served. Lescaze was a committed modernist, his new progressive architecture was the perfect expression of the youthful progressive spirit of the young network. Luckman "spoke the businessman's language." Golden and Dorfsman consistently criticized experimental or avant-garde graphic design as art for art's sake and narrowly elitist in its appeal.31 They accepted the dictum: good design is good business.

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The Columbia Broadcasting System can boast of a sustained record of memorable, effective, and functional design accom-

plishments. Credit for this impressive achievement must be jointly shared by the corporate leadership and the professional designers responsible for creating the image of CBS. Both groups realized that design could be an effective tool for shaping organizational identity as well as solving problems of physical form only when it was treated as an integral part of corporate planning. To appreciate all the ramifications of design in a corporate milieu, future case studies must do more than merely identify designers and describe award-winning or money-making designs.

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