Cooper & Beatty's trademark evolution – c1927 to 1964

The first Cooper & Beatty mark, c1927, designer unknown (possibly Ed Cooper). Some of the equipment in use at the time is shown in silhouette; a Monotype keyboard, a Monotype caster, a compositor standing at a typecase and a table for cutting strips of lead used for spacing.

Carl Dair’s 1951 calligraphic mark, created using his own chancery cursive italic hand, was a radical departure from the first Cooper & Beatty mark. The version on the left was soon replaced with the mark without the explanatory text around it.

In early 1958 Allan Fleming reworked Dair’s calligraphic mark to make it more typographic. Fleming himself used the mark sparingly, even leaving it off some of their advertising. But on his 1958 Type-o-file type specimen box it was prominently displayed in a vivid orange.

Tony Mann’s 1964 circular mark may be the best known of the four Cooper & Beatty marks. The abstracted C + B, far removed from standard alphabetic forms, made it possible to combine this mark with almost any typeface.

Notes

Items in this Collection

Title: Curabitur blandit tempus porttitor

Media format description

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Artifact

Date

1927

Title

The four Cooper & Beatty trademarks

Description

Logo

Cooper & Beatty trademarks

Publication

Publisher

Client

Cooper & Beatty, Limited

Credits

Agency:

Studio:

Creative_Director:

Art_Director:

Design: Unknown, Carl Dair, Allan R. Fleming, Anthony (Tony) Mann

Typography:

Hand_Lettering:

Calligraphy:

Illustration:

Art:

Author:

Writing:

Printing:

Biography:

c 1927 unknown. 1951 Carl Dair. 1958 Allan Fleming. 1964 Anthony Mann

Principal Typefaces

Common: All marks are hand drawn. 1951; 20th century (Futura)

Find more:

Hand-Lettering Futura

Region

Ontario

Language

English

Holding

Copyright Status

Artifact copyright

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Notes copyright

Accompanying notes are licensed under Creative Commons licensing CCbyNC which allows for non-commercial use with attribute.