William Golden (graphic designer)

Background:

William Golden was born in lower Manhattan on March 31, 1911, the youngest of twelve children.
Described by AIGA as “(a member of) a distinguished group of pioneers in the post-World War
II era who gave shape to the emerging field of graphic design,” William Golden is an
accomplished designer who changed the industry both stylistically through his bold, punchy
work at CBS. He also pushed for the recognition that an artist and a designer were to be
thought of as two different things, thus helping shape the graphic design industry in a more
defined way.

The CBS logo

Logo, CBS, William Golden, 1951
 In conjunction with the Didot typeface, Golden developed the famous CBS Eye logo.
Kurt Weihs recalled that the eye was inspired by an article in Alexey Brodovitch's
Portfolio about the subject of Shaker design.

The Eye soon came to be used in all aspects

of station identification for CBS Television.

Badge, CBS Television Network,

Badge Museum

The introduction of a new logo intended to help separate CBS Network Television from the
CBS Radio Network, clearly differentiate the network from other television networks, and
was part of a broader effort to develop the overall impression of CBS as a place to see
quality images.

Visual form vs Design, and corporate decisions.

So, rather than trying to make

advertising into fine art, the way
to attract the public's attention to
the message was to be subtle,
original, and distinguished, by
maintaining clarity of vision to
make a simple solution out of many
design elements.
Impact

The CBS Eye

The CBS Eye is now a world-famous logo seen by millions every day. Golden's design helped to
highlight the reputation of CBS as a major outlet of world news, and symbolized CBS "looking
at the world." Its simplicity and versatility made it ideal for use in a variety of formats, to
help build the corporate association between the Eye and CBS.
Golden designed the eye to be balanced and used good proportions between the
outer circle, the inner circle, and the white space around the "pupil" of the eye.
 See?

This photo montage ran as a full-page New

York Times ad on April 13, 1959. In this
ad, Golden selected a wide array of different
images from CBS news broadcasts to show
the range of topics that CBS had reported on,
while simultaneously announcing that CBS
had won the Peabody Award for Public
Service for the third year in a row. This
ad also demonstrates the use of the Didot
Bodoni typeface and the Eye logo
together, showing the maturity of the CBS
identity.
 …By placing the copy in the midst of the images,
the viewer's eye is drawn to the white space and
wording, and then to the surrounding images. The
headline "SEE?" ties in perfectly with the CBS
Eye logo, a reminder of the idea that CBS is
looking at the world and bringing world news to
its audience.

March 29, 1941; 81 years ago

Which Way In? and Target

CBS was that clearly television was better than both since it was able to bring you
the sound and emotion of the human voice, while simultaneously providing you
images (still photos or video clips) that showed you the actual location of the news
event. Target was an announcement of CBS's achievement of the goal to deliver
their programs to the largest audience at the lowest cost. The CBS network had
been the highest-rated network for many years and had been gaining a reputation
as the most effective network for advertisers to reach the largest audience. This
ad was a reinforcement of that fact.
Although Which Way In? utilizes neither the CBS Eye nor the Didot Bodoni font,
the photograph of the eye still serves as a reminder of the CBS Eye logo. The
Target ad cleverly superimposes a smaller Eye inside the larger one, creating a
bull's-eye effect to tie into the statement that CBS had hit its target.
William Golden's drive for excellence and perfectionism led him to become a
pioneer of American graphic design. Through the use of good visual form, his
designs brought great aesthetics to the advertisements and promotional materials
he produced, while still meeting the primary objective of conveying the message in
a clear, elegant, and interesting way that would draw the attention of the reader.