Pioneers in Packaging & Graphic Design

19 Jul Pioneers in Packaging & Graphic Design

Peter Behrens

He started as a painter, illustrator, and book-binder but his career eventually led him to become one of the earliest documented artistic consultants for a company. It was AEG (Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft, literally General Electric Company) that sought his unique talent that started his career at AEG in 1907. He designed a wide range of materials for the company including logotype, it’s own home-spun product packaging and several marketing materials. Publicity stunts were already a thing during the late 1800s and by the 1900s, the need to come up with quirky advertising ideas were being led by men like Behrens.

His work can well be considered as the first generally recognizable and first fully developed a corporate identity.

Works of Peter Behrens can be considered as the first fully developed corporate identity.

J. Gordon Lippincott

Joshua Gordon Lippincott was an engineer by training. He partnered with Walter Margulies who was an architect by profession in 1943. They wanted to establish the first rational approach in product packaging design and their big break was the Campbell soup label and was literary an overnight success. By the mid-1950’s, Lippincott & Margulies was one of the big three of design companies, along with Raymond Loewy Associates and Henry Dreyfus. They are truly the packaging gurus and their designs continue to be a personal inspiration. Lippincott is one of the most respected brand companies in the world.

Campbell Soup Cans (part of 32-pieces cans) artwork by Andy Warhol in 1962. It was also Gordon Lippincott who coined the term “corporate identity”.

Coleman LiPuma Segal & Morrill, Inc.

Among the prominent packaging design companies in the New York were Coleman Lipuma Segal & Morrill founded in 1966. CLS&M were ahead above the rest by the late 80s when they introduced computer-aided design. They were my personal inspiration when I started graphic design. They introduced innovative designs for Castrol, Purina, and Nestle’s Sweet Success brand identities.

CLS&M was the most successful pioneers of desktop publishing in the early 1990s, using Mac Quadra together the earliest version of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop that were introduced in January 1987. They used terms like “planogram” and “FPO” which has been adopted by several packaging design companies today.

Design partners – Owen Coleman, Sal LiPuma, Abe Segal & Ed Morrill

Alan Chan Design Company

Alan Chan started graphic designing in 1980. He was considered a pioneer in Asia. He won more than 500 local and international awards, particularly the prestigious New York Art Directors Club, D & AD, and the Tokyo Type-directors award. His company was selected by the Graphic Press in New York as one of the Graphis Ten Best design firms. His technique is simple yet engaging and often elegant. I first saw his works in the Great Packaging Design book published in 1995 by (again) Rockport Publishing.

I was captivated by his scrumptious works in packaging design. He uses themes that were truly Asian, which later proved was his asset in producing unique designs. The Allan Chan Company is still based in Hong Kong with business expansions in mainland China. He himself is truly an Asian brand.

Allan Chan was born in 1950, his works ranges from packaging to interior designing.