468:, as he developed, directed, and sustained the visual program at CBS. During his tenure as creative director for advertising and sales promotion, all of the ads, promotional materials, and other corporate design projects were of a consistently high aesthetic quality, despite Golden's own belief that the business and marketing objectives were always of highest importance, and aesthetic quality was secondary to these objectives. At the height of his career, Golden's life ended abruptly at the age of 48; he died of a
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wanted to be a painter — but wasn't. . . . If honest enough, he becomes a professional who can do something special. But this something special is for sale — it is communicating something that is not his own. I think the trouble comes when he tries to make it a work of art, too. I think the two are completely different things. I think a lot of designers, who are talented and intelligent don't find this very satisfying. But they're not going to find it more satisfying by pretending it's something it isn't.
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speak for themselves. 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.
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in charge of advertising and sales promotion at CBS, Golden chose to remain the creative director of advertising and sales promotion, preferring to keep firm control of the creative aspects of the CBS image rather than moving into a more administrative role. However, despite his love for creativity,
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Golden helped to shape corporate decisions, constantly pushing the executives to spend more on advertising the shows that demonstrated CBS's respect for good theater, good music, and good news analysis — programs that highlighted CBS's reputation as a responsible company. Although he was offered the
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was growing to become the dominant medium of communication in
America. The time was ripe to define a visual style that would identify CBS to its viewers, and William Golden was the chief architect of the CBS identity. His efforts led CBS to a level of visual elegance that reflected the extraordinary
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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
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I think the fine artist makes a personal statement about his world, and his reactions to his world. He makes it to a limited audience, or to a big audience — but it's all his. He controls every bit of it. The advertising designer has a completely different function. He may be someone who thought he
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On one occasion, a layout for a rate card, submitted to the head of Golden's division, came back by messenger with a note saying, 'I don't like it very much. Let's discuss.' Golden's answer was to tape a drawing pencil to the corner of a large layout pad and send it back with this message scribbled
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The layout principles that Golden applied to this ad were uncomplicated but subtle. He did not try to do anything fancy with the images, such as tilting or variations in size to add interest; rather, he laid them out in neat orderly columns in an "office-building windows" style, and let the images
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while the outer and inner circles were overlaid with a photograph or still-frame from a television program. This is one way in which the simple Eye design could be used over and over to imprint the Eye into the
American consciousness as a symbol of CBS, and to tie the CBS corporate identity to the
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Among the illustrations was an eye symbol. Golden picked it up and used it for a CBS sales portfolio. Then he felt there was more to it and used it for an ad. ... We had done eyes before. Everybody had done eyes; but this one was something that really worked. I felt the eye could have become the
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of advertising and sales promotion for CBS Television
Network in 1951. Because of his friendship with Stanton, Golden was able to set the direction for CBS's promotion and image. Although he frequently submitted designs to Stanton, it was understood that they were not for Stanton to approve or
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was CBS's answer to which medium was the best format to deliver news to the public. As radio had grown in the preceding 30 years to compete with newspapers and print media, the debate arose as to whether news was more effective in visual format (the printed page) or in audio format (the radio
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broadcast). CBS's answer 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.
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Because of their respect for one another, Stanton and Golden had a very productive relationship. Stanton gave Golden authority over the image of CBS, believing that design was a high priority within CBS and trusting Golden's sense of visual form. Golden was named
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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 a clarity of vision to make a simple solution out of many design elements.
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that helped to define radio as a news medium. His ads emphasized the ability of radio to bring historic events to its audience in a way no other medium could at that time. Golden took a leave of absence in 1941 to join the
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and sales promotion for CBS Television
Network. Golden gained a reputation for always striving for a perfect, simple solution to the problem at hand, producing an original and distinguished design to convey the message.
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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.
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Both designs demonstrate Golden's love for the simple solution. These designs allow a large image to dominate and use a short and simple headline to attract the reader's attention and interest. Although
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In 1943, he entered the U.S. Army as a private, and served in Europe as art director of army training manuals. He was discharged from the military in 1945 with the rank of captain.
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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.
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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.
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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
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between the outer circle, the inner circle, and the white space around the "pupil" of the eye. In many advertisements, the white space in the design functioned as
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and Kurt Weihs were assigned the task of "Americanizing" the font, redrawing every character in the font from an enlargement that Golden provided to them.
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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
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Golden was keenly aware of the difference between the fine artist and the designer. Asked to define the difference between the two, Golden responded:
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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.
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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
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on March 31, 1911, the youngest of twelve children. His only formal schooling was at the
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taste and intelligence of the corporate leadership and, ultimately, the viewers of CBS. Toward this end, Golden employed the
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broadcasts to show the range of topics that CBS had reported on, while simultaneously announcing that CBS had won the
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across the top sheet: 'Let's not! Why don't you make a better one?' The rate card was produced as originally designed.
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to use as the main type style for CBS promotional materials. Since the typeface was not extensively available in the
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promotion department (before broadcast television existed) and culminating in his tenure as creative director of
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ad on April 13, 1959. In this ad, Golden selected a wide array of different images from
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reject, but rather to keep him informed as to what Golden had decided to do.
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corporate symbol. We saw the eye as symbolizing CBS 'looking at the world.'
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In 1937, Golden left Condé Nast and joined the promotion department at
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Early in his career at CBS, Golden's work drew the attention of
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Golden's work ethic set an entirely new standard for
American
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Golden, Cipe
Pineles, Kurt Weihs, and Robert Strunsky, eds.
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Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
669:(25th anniversary ed.). Köln: Taschen. p. 291.
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Golden designed the eye to be balanced, and used good
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People of the United States Office of War Information
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William Golden was born to a Jewish family in lower
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