GoKawiilArchive project re-traces 1,504 trademarks from 1973 design book 'Symbolical Designs'
A design archive is digitizing Trademarks and Symbols, Volume 2: Symbolical Designs, a 1973 reference book cataloguing 1,504 marks from 725 designers, 1,142 companies and 30 countries. Each mark is being manually traced from scans of the original book, and the creator says the work is ongoing, with some details not yet matching the source artwork exactly.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Projects like this preserve mid-century graphic design history that might otherwise remain locked in out-of-print books, making historical trademark design searchable and referenceable for designers today. Because the tracing is done by hand and incomplete, the current dataset should be treated as a work in progress rather than a definitive archive.
- The archive covers 1,504 marks from 725 designers across 30 countries.
- Each symbol is manually traced from a 1973 book scan, so some details may differ from originals.
- The project is still being completed, with the creator inviting feedback via direct message.
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Published there as: “Trademarks and Symbols, Volume 2: Symbolical Designs (1973)”
Read the original report → The summary and analysis above are GoKawiil's own, written from reporting by the source above. Facts and quotes belong to the original publisher.