How the MTV brand captured the artistic spirit of the Nineteen Eighties By Joseph Foley revealed 16 Might 23 Graphic Design …however was nearly an entire mess.

5 months ago 3 min read

Ah, the Nineteen Eighties. The last decade was a blur of saturated colors, zany patterns and, sure, feathered hairdos. And if one single brand design captured this frenetic, rule-breaking artistic vitality, it must be the MTV brand.

The shifting look of Warner-Amex’s (WASEC) music channel tapped into a glance that continues to be influential in the present day by utilizing a easy brand that would, and did, tackle myriad totally different themes. And it is simply being rediscovered by a brand new technology (see our information to easy methods to design a brand for extra inspiration).

Traditional variations of the MTV brand, 1980’s from r/DesignPorn

MTV started life again in 1981 and would revolutionise popular culture and leisure with its back-to-back music movies (it was actually music tv again within the day) and, maybe much more notably, its design.

As not too long ago famous on Reddit (opens in new tab), the MTV brand might tackle totally different themes relying on the event wanted, and these have been usually wild Memphis design patterns that might look chaotic and garish in the present day.

Whereas some Reddit customers are having to clarify the idea of MTV to youthful peeps for others, the brand designs convey again a wave of nostalgia for the 80s arcade aesthetic. “I used to attract this on my college notebooks after I was 12,” one particular person wrote. However how was the MTV brand born, and why does it so completely seize the spirt of its age?

The MTV brand took on a number of designs (Picture credit score: MTV)

Memphis Milano Bel Air chair

The Memphis motion’s Bel Air chair (Picture credit score: Memphis Milano)

The MTV brand tapped into the worldwide Memphis design motion. Led by the Italian architect Ettore Sottsass, the Memphis group’s first present, that includes objects just like the Bel Air chair, was held on the Salone del Cell Milano in 1981, the identical 12 months that MTV launched.

The assorted iterations of the MTV brand with its hand drawn look and loopy patterns mirrored the graphics popping out of the Memphis motion. It was the work of younger studio Manhattan Design, which was employed by WASEC vp of artistic companies Fred Seibert.

However their first proposal was very, very totally different to the MTV brand we all know. On his web site, Seibert (opens in new tab) shares a 1982 article and interview from the business journal Cablevision, through which he reveals that the company despatched him a Polaroid of a sketch of a hand holding a musical be aware as if it have been an Apple. He beloved it, however makes an attempt to work it right into a wordmark have been disastrous.

MTV logo proposal

Play the guitar on the MITN (Picture credit score: MTV)

After that failure, and with it now determined {that a} ‘MTV’ wanted to be within the design, the designers started taking part in round with the letters alone. The outcome was one thing concurrently easy however distinctive and daring. An enormous stately M as a 3D projection with TV scrawled over it.

The simplicity of it meant that the brand might tackle a lifetime of its on, with the M topic to all types of interventions, from bricks to flags, animal prints and fruit. These many outfits have the brand a sense of motion, even when it was static.

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MTV’s first broadcast in August of 1981 featured footage of the Apollo 11 Moonwalk with animated MTV logos instead of the US flag (Picture credit score: MTV)

A few of them might have been exhausting to learn, however that is not likely a problem. It is MTV, it was the zeitgeist. Individuals quickly knew what it was. Seibert says the design went towards every little thing he knew, nevertheless it got here to outline an period.

For the design tales behind the identities of more moderen media shops, see our explorations of the YouTube brand historical past and the TikTok brand historical past.