Go Logo! A Handbook to the Art of Global Branding

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Determinant 1

history:

The Impersonal Determinant

From Chambers Concise Dictionary:

History: a course of events; a life story; a drama

representing historical events

1

In the early, dark days of World War II, Russia produced

many propaganda posters like this in the early 1940s.

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Go Logo! A Handbook to the Art of Global Branding54

The Adnams beer identity draws on strong

historic imagery to demonstrate the brewer’s

long heritage in Southwold, Suffolk, U.K. (Design:

DesignBridge)

V

ladimir Nabokov’s early memoir, Speak Memory, offers the key to understand-

ing much about his subsequent oeuvre. Writing in Paris as an exile from a

life and a Russia that was gone forever, he used his memory and his talent to

compose a vivid mental picture of his childhood and environment that was to

herald so much of his subsequent brilliant career.

Life and career are always influenced by

living memory. Observe and learn, from per-

sonal and professional experiences, not only

about obvious surface differences but also

about the emotional similarities that very

different histories and cultures can have in

common when one digs below the surface

of peoples’ memories and stimulates their

imaginations.

The best creative brand warriors are able to

draw from their personal histories. All great

designers have a superior sense of where,

when, and why significant events in their

past lives occurred. All are able to transport

themselves, before they begin to create

ideas, to a mental environment that allows

their synapses to fire freely. Their search for

the appropriate historical backdrop for the

genesis of an idea is accomplished almost at

warp speed. They have spent years absorb-

ing the drama and comedy of life, as spun

out in books, film, and personal travel. Once

the gates to their imaginations are open,

connections spark one another, and inspira-

tion strikes.

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1945

1936

Lou and Fred Cato: the base-

ball warriors from Arkansas

My paternal grandparents and three of their six

children, plus the dog and the mules, in the early

1900s in rural Arkansas.

1936 to 1945: Hopes and Fears

I was born on December 22, 1935. I don’t consciously

remember much from earliest childhood, but I do have

strong memories of moving into a brand-new house in

a new neighborhood when I was five. This part of very

early childhood was conventional and happy.

Then, on December 7, 1941, it all changed. I remem-

ber to this day what I was doing when I heard the

news: I was listening to my favorite radio program,

The Gene Autry Show, when an announcer broke in

to say that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor.

I remember thinking, “Who are the Japanese? Where

is Pearl Harbor? What does this mean? Will they be

attacking our house?” I soon learned what had hap-

pened, about the seriousness of it—and about the war

that took place soon after.

I was allowed to listen to Presi-

dent Roosevelt’s famous call to

action: “This is a day that will live

in infamy.” A country, which the

day before had been ferociously

pacifist, was now committed to

war in the Pacific. Shortly after

the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler

declared war, and the United

States rallied to the challenge of

fighting a global war.

Many other things during those

war years strengthened my

lifelong sense that history is

worth remembering and learn-

ing from. The overheard stories

from neighbors and relatives,

fearing the worst about sons

and husbands, showed me maps

of places I would otherwise

have never heard of. I think my

curiosity to someday see some

of these places was implanted

then. I don’t think many of my

generation ever forgot World War II, even those of us

who grew up in the United States and were spared the

horrors. I know I have retained a strong feeling that if

you want to live free, you must always be prepared to

fight hard.

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