Walter Joseph Landor (born Walter Landauer, July 9, 1913 – June 9, 1995) was a brand designer and the founder of Landor & Fitch.
He was a proponent of branding and consumer research techniques widely used to this day.
Landor, the company he founded as Landor Associates in 1941, has offices around the world.
"Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind," Walter Landor memorably stated.
He had a particular gift for creating designs with broad popular appeal,
such as the Coca-Cola script.
Brands as diverse as General Electric, Japan Airlines, Levi Strauss, and Shell Oil all benefited from his vision and commitment.
Early years
Landor was born to Fritz and Elsie Landauer, a Jewish family, in Munich in 1913. Fritz Landauer was a prominent architect,
and Landor grew up drawing in his father's studio; he realized he wanted to study industrial design instead of architecture early on.
[Gallagher, Bernard]
"Walter Landor"
In ''Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present'', vol. 5, edited by R. Daniel Wadhwani. German Historical Institute. Last modified November 8, 2012. In early life Landor's aesthetic sense was influenced by the
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...
and
Werkbund design movements.
Landor left Munich for London in 1931, studying at
London University's Goldsmith College School of Art and changing his surname from Landauer to Landor.
He interned at
W. S. Crawford, Ltd in London in 1932, and decided to that he wanted to live in Britain.
Following his studies at London University, Landor would help to found Industrial Design Partnership with
Misha Black
Misha Black (16 October 1910 – 11 October 1977) was a British-Azerbaijani architect and designer. In 1933 he founded with associates in London the organisation that became the Artists' International Association. In 1943, with Milner Gray and ...
and
Milner Gray in 1935, and one year later, the 23-year-old Landor became the youngest Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
In 1939 Landor traveled to the United States as part of the design team for the British Pavilion at the New York World's Fair.
After the Fair, he continued west to San Francisco and quickly decided to settle there.
"For me it was a city that looked out on the whole world, a city built on the cultural traditions of east and west," he later said. "How could I live anywhere else?"
Landor became associate professor of industrial design and interior architecture at th
California College of Arts and Craftsin 1940. In June, Landor married the former Josephine Martinelli.
Landor

In 1941, Landor and his wife, Josephine, launched a design firm in their small flat, working from the living room table.
Passionate about his work, he succeeded in attracting clients from a wide variety of fields, adding staff and relocating to larger offices as the need grew.
In a move characteristic of his ebullient personality and original business style, Landor bought a retired ferryboat, the ''
Klamath'', in 1964 for $12,000 and converted it into his company's corporate headquarters;
she had operated from 1924 to 1956, retiring after the opening of the
Richmond–San Rafael Bridge
The Richmond–San Rafael Bridge (officially renamed the John F. McCarthy Memorial Bridge in 1981) is the northernmost of the east–west crossings of California's San Francisco Bay, carrying Interstate 580 from Richmond on the east to San R ...
.
[ Architect Morton Rader and designer Richard Rosek were retained for the conversion, and Landor held an "open ship" party in September 1964 to mark its completion. Space on ''Klamath'' was rented to six other companies.] The firm moved from ''Klamath'' to their present headquarters at 1001 Front Street in the late 1980s, but retains the ''Klamath'' as their corporate symbol, although the boat itself was purchased by Duraflame
A firelog is a manufactured log constructed to be used as wood fuel. Firelogs are designed to be inexpensive, whilst being easier to ignite, burn longer, and burn more efficiently than firewood. Firelogs are traditionally manufactured using two m ...
and was moved to Stockton.
His work included brands like Del Monte (1965), Levi Strauss & Co. (1968), Virginia Slims
Virginia Slims is an American brand of cigarettes owned by Altria. It is manufactured by Philip Morris USA (in the United States) and Philip Morris International (outside the United States).
Virginia Slims are narrower ( circumference) than stan ...
, (1968), Cotton Incorporated
Cotton Incorporated is a not-for-profit organization funded by cotton growers in the United States through per-bale assessments on producers and importers levied by the Cotton Board, which reports to the United States Department of Agriculture ...
(1973), Marlboro
Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (PMI, now separate from Altria) in most global territories outside the ...
(1977), Dole Foods (1984), Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
(1985), Fujifilm
, trading as , or simply Fuji, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the areas of photography, optics, Office supplies, office and Biomedical engine ...
(1987), and Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...
. He also designed the corporate identities for many airlines, including Alitalia
Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. ...
, British Airways
British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport.
The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...
, Garuda Indonesia
Garuda Indonesia is the flag carrier of Indonesia, headquartered at Soekarno–Hatta International Airport near Jakarta. A successor of KLM Interinsulair Bedrijf, it is a member of SkyTeam airline alliance and the second-largest airline of Ind ...
, Japan Airlines, Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...
, Cathay Pacific Airways, and Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA or SQ) is the flag carrier of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Changi Airport. Considered to be one of the world's best carriers, the airline is ranked as a 5-star airline as well as ranked ...
.
Landor received a commission for branding San Francisco Muni
The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF Muni or Muni ) is the primary public transit system within San Francisco, California. It operates a system of bus routes (including trolleybuses), the Muni Metro light rail system, three historic cable ...
, resulting in the "worm" logo and orange-and-yellow "sunset" livery for vehicles; the designs were unveiled on January 27, 1975. Although the Landor color scheme was phased out gradually starting in 1995 with the introduction of the gray-and-red Breda LRV2 light rail cars, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA or San Francisco MTA) is an agency created by consolidation of the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), the Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT), and the Taxicab Commission. The age ...
, which took over operation from Muni in 1999, retained the "worm" Muni logo for vehicles, despite selecting a winner in a contest in 1996 for Academy of Art College
The Academy of Art University (AAU, or ART U), formerly Academy of Art College and Richard Stephens Academy of Art, is a private for-profit art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded as the Academy of Advertising Art by Richard S. ...
students which proposed replacing the logo with a green, silver and orange winged circle.
In 1985, Walter Landor gave the commencement address at ArtCenter College of Design
The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California.
It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...
(Pasadena, California), where he shared his five secrets for a successful design career; he was also presented with an honorary degree.
Landor retired in 1989. In 1994 the Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
honored Walter Landor by establishing a permanent collection of his designs and packaging. Landor died in 1995 at the age of 81.
Awards and legacy
Landor was awarded the 2004 AIGA
The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity. The ...
Medal for his contributions to the industry.
See also
* Saul Bass
Saul Bass (; May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Academy Awards, Oscar-winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion-picture title sequences, film posters, and logo, corporate logos.
During his 4 ...
, a contemporary graphic artist also responsible for many iconic logos
* Raymond Loewy
Raymond Loewy ( , ; November 5, 1893 – July 14, 1986) was a French-born American industrial designer who achieved fame for the magnitude of his design efforts across a variety of industries. He was recognized for this by ''Time'' magazi ...
(1893–1986), French-born American industrial designer
Endnotes
External links
;Videos
The Decanter film by Walter Landor (video, 1960s)
* (1977)
;Public address
Five secrets of a successful design career: Art Center College of Design commencement address (1985)
;More about Walter Landor
Walter Landor: Graphic designer and founder of an influential corporate image consultancy (Transatlantic Perspectives)
Walter Landor: Portrait of a pioneer
History: Multiple articles and videos about Walter Landor and the origins of Landor
Landor: Medalists: Inspiration: AIGA
Bibliography
Bernard F. Gallagher, senior documentation specialist at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, wrote his masters thesis about Walter Landor: "A Brand Is Built in the Mind: Walter Landor and the Transformation of Industrial Design in the Twentieth Century", The Cooperstown Graduate Program at the State University of New York, College at Oneonta (2007). Although his thesis is not yet available online, his research informs the following three articles:
*
*
*
Other references
* Area of Design
(August 2004),
* Designers Signature
* Kelley, Ken and Rick Clogher, "The Ultimate Image Maker", ''San Francisco Focus'' (August 1992).
Landor
* ''Landor Compendium'', published by Landor (2003), .
* Meyerowitz, Daniel
"The Klamath: Landor's Icon of Innovation"
(November 2007)
* Vinne, Veronique. "The Brand Named Walter Landor", ''Graphis'', no. 321 (May–June 1999)
* Lindsay Arthur, "Industrial Designer Turns His Talents To Own Use", ''San Francisco Call-Bulletin'' (November 19, 1956).
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Landor, Walter
1913 births
1995 deaths
Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London
Businesspeople from Munich
German emigrants
Immigrants to the United States
American designers
AIGA medalists