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Don’t make ’em like this anymore
May 23, 2014

Don’t make ’em like this anymore

I especially like identity systems when they are applied to things that might seem outside of the purview of corporate promotions. So with this SVA check designed by George Tscherny, circa 1956.


Our current checks — for those wondering — are set in the school’s house typeface, Bodoni, but they’re not as elegant or colorful as this. This identity, the first for the school after it was renamed from the C&I School, is an interpretation based on the new name: the formal, serifed, roman “S” for “school”; and the bold, graphically exaggerated “VA” representing the arts. And that second part, logically, is where Tscherny takes creative license:


A graphic design of the SVA typeface on a orange block crumpled to resemble fabric. The characters in SVA are different colors; black, white and purple, respectively.The "VA" is dramatically large compared to the "S" it's also a different font.


 
George Tscherny Collection. The new SVA identity, 1956.

A graphic design for an event. In the middle is an acronym, "S V A W M A A" each letter are tightly close to each other making is look like a horizontal zig zag. The only outlier is the "S" its not close and it's significantly smaller then the following letters. Each letter make up a orange, purple pattern. The acronym stands for " The School of Visual Arts, Whitney museum of American Art".


 
George Tscherny Collection. “Courtesy the Whitney Museum of American Art, SVA presents a collection of drawings and paintings,” 1963.

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