CD logo Officially Retired

[bterry01]

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Civil Defense Logo Dies at 67, and Some Mourn Its Passing

The Civil Defense symbol, left, born in 1939 and familiar to generations of Americans, has been replaced by an emergency management logo.

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By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: December 1, 2006

The stark insignia of civil defense ? a C and D forming a red circle in a white triangle on a blue disk ? died yesterday after a long eclipse. It was 67 years old and lived in the mind?s eye of anyone who remembers air-raid drills, fallout shelters and metal drums filled with what had to be the stalest biscuits in the world.
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Its demise was announced by the National Emergency Management Association, the group that represents state emergency managers.

The CD insignia, which the association called ?a relic from the cold war,? was eulogized by Richard Gref?, the executive director of the American Institute of Graphic Arts.

?The old mark fits in the same category of simplicity and impact occupied by the London Underground map,? Mr. Gref? said.

Tom Geismar, a principal in Chermayeff & Geismar Studio, a design firm, said the insignia was ?authoritative and appropriate for the serious work? of civil defense.

The insignia was born in 1939, said Michael Bierut, a partner in the Pentagram design firm. Its father was Charles T. Coiner, the art director of the N. W. Ayer advertising agency, who also designed the National Recovery Administration?s blue eagle.

The CD insignia was called anachronistic in 1972 by the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency, successor to the Office of Civil Defense. ?The image was World War II vintage,? the agency said.

The EM symbol was endorsed by R. David Paulison, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, successor to the civil preparedness agency. He attended the announcement in Washington.

The new image was developed by Morrie Goodman, an emergency communications specialist and the managing director of AGG International, a marketing firm.

Mr. Goodman said he first tried to update the classic triangle, using EM initials, but wound up with something that looked like the America Online logo. He was then directed by the association to take a fresh approach. In it, the letters EM and the words Public Safety and Public Trust are wreathed in blue and gold arcs, symbolizing movement, and three gold stars, standing for the local, state and federal levels of disaster preparedness and response.

?We now have a new symbol of what our profession is all about,? Mr. Goodman said.

Mr. Geismar sounded less sure. He said the stars and swooshes seemed ?more appropriate to an upstart airline.?

The CD insignia is survived by countless metal drums, still languishing in school basements, with biscuits that have grown even staler.

?I will now go cry for Charles Coiner,? Mr. Bierut said.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/01/washi ... ?th&emc=th

[SirenMadness]

Pretty sad. It seems ironic that I put that sign as my avatar shortly before.

[jerrylovessirens]

Whos says its dead!!! I still would put it on restored sirens and such!

[Nelso90]

I drew one up in AutoCAD yesterday. Sad to see it go...

[birdy]

I definently prefer the CD logo. The EM logo looks a little too ... fluffy?

[Blasty]

Yep, the 21st Century graphics standards must call for swooshes and other fast looking design elements, as everyone and their mother is using them now. It's silly. At least they didn't incorporate the letter 'X' into it somehow.

Thousands of graphic designers need a swift kick in the arse for being unoriginal.

[birdy]

Well you know, the average attention span of an american these days is about 2 seconds. Thus the X-TREME and/or slick marketing everywhere.

Dumb.

[FS T-Bolt]

it'll never be the same...

[AllSafe]

Sedgwick County, KS had their own variant on the CD logo...they changed the D a little bit to look like a P...it stands for "Civil Preparedness". I wish I could get a photo.

[cdvtripleseven]

I'm trying to figure out how this is a news story.
That story is from the New York Times. They same folks who brought
us the "civil defense bunker discovered in the Brooklyn Bridge" story
a year or so ago. Turns out that it wasn't a "bunker" at all but an old
storage room full of old fallout shelter junk. The "reporter" seems
way to focused on that stuff by his two references to the "stale biscuits."
That's probably the only research he did was to read that stupid brooklyn
bridge story. How many people ever even knew fallout shelter supplies
existed much less that they had CD emblems on them.
Anyway....
The CD emblem was around 23 years before any shelter supplies were
ever put into shelters and that's his primary point is stale biscuits. Oh brother.
The CD emblem will be associated by most people with
an armband and a white helmet. And a few of us with yellow noise making
devices..
That emblem has seen so little use over the last 20 years I don't see how
it's even a story that it's been retired. How can something be retired
that's hasn't been used in years. Wonder how much that marketing firm
got paid to come up with that new emblem. It's just like another lame
company logo. It could at least be red white and blue.