Legendary designer Saul Bass (1920-1996), perhaps best known for his movie title sequences, described a particularly sticky moment when, in 1980, he presented his Minolta logo design at the company’s Osaka headquarters.

“Although his son, the president of the company, had initiated the corporate identity program, the chairman and retired founder, Kazuo Tashima, remained skeptical of such fancy new ways.

“During the initial consultation process, he listened to my proposals in stony silence. At one point when I was speaking, Mr Tashima plucked a miniaturized Minolta camera from its display stand, and said ‘Gentlemen, we have a very small product. There is hardly enough room on it for a name, let alone a symbol!’

“I paused a moment. ‘Mr Tashima,’ I said, ‘your company has a perfectly symmetrical name — three letters on each side of a circle — and the circle is the perfect place for a symbol.’ I then reached over and took Herb Yager’s pipe out of his hand; it was a Dunhill pipe. I pointed to the traditional white Dunhill dot and said, ‘This is what you need — a magic dot.’ That did it. From then on the old lion was intrigued.”

That was excerpted from page 348 of the superb book Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design, published by Laurence King.

Dunhill pipe dot
Dunhill’s trademark dot, via PipesMagazine
Minolta corporate identity on packaging
Saul Bass’ logo on Minolta packaging

Minolta merged with Konica in 2003 to form Konica Minolta.

I love the advice Saul Bass shared for design students in this video (embedded below).

“Learn to draw. If you don’t, you’re going to live your life getting around that.”

Related, from the archives, is the cost of a Saul Bass logo, and a variety of Saul Bass logos, then and now.

Comments

What a fantastic anecdote about the Minolta logo!
It is easy to forget that we need to “sell” designs not just “present” them — this is a great example of that.
I suppose the “Saul Bass” brand name helped him persuade this particular client.

How This Same Anecdote Would Have Occurred in 2012

Saul Bass: “This is what you need. A magic dot like on THIS pipe…”
….
Saul Bass: “Where’s the pipe?”
Herb Yager: “The administrative assistant took it. She said this was a smoke-free environment.”
Kazuo Tashima: “Leave my office immediately and never return.”

Nice quote David. I really need to get that book. It’s on a long list ;)

Ever since I started watching Mad Men, I’ve been very interested in the unorthodox ways of how designers can pitch to their clients and this is a great example.

VDM, or you could replace the pipe with the Sheaffer pen Dina mentioned, or Kai’s shout for a Leica camera.

Mad Men’s definitely a favourite series, Jamie. Looking forward to season five.

Thank you, Stefano!

Great post. As I’ve gained more confidence and experience in my work, it’s becoming easier to “sell” my ideas. Sometimes you just have to move on and do what the client asks, but I’ve been surprised over the last couple of years how many clients will listen to you and allow you to make the best decision for them when they see your passion. Saul was a master at finding that right angle to sell at.

This is the sort of advice I wish more designers would bring to their day to day dealing with clients in a more agressive manner. If every single one of us did that, clients wouldn’t behave so badly towards the design profession.

Too bad Minolta wasn’t able to make the switch to digital. It was bought out by Sony and the line discontinued. At least the brand will live on as a fundamental design/sales lesson and part of Saul Bass’ legendary portfolio of work.

Inspirational story. I think the fact that the “magic dot” was well thought through and justified by the symmetrical layout, makes it so impressive. It shows that if there’s a reason behind your design elements, no matter how simple, your client will (eventually) understand your proposal.

It goes back to the fact stories sell.

Someone could have created a similar logo by accident, but it all comes down to the principle that people like knowing more about what they’re buying into. Especially if it’s something new and original. They like the security of knowing something hasn’t just been thrown together and it has purpose or stands for something.

Just my humble opinion.

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