While Ericsson was growing in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, the parent company lacked a proper policy with respect to the use of logotypes. All possible variations were used around the world. In 1979, work was therefore begun under the leadership of Gustaf O Douglas to create a uniform graphic profile. This resulted in the introduction in 1982 of what was called the CVI (Corporate Visual Identity), and a new brand consisting of Ericsson and a stylized E being taking into use.
Following the launch of the “one company” concept in the late 1980s by Lars Ramqvist, who was vice president at the time, a new CVI was released in 1989 with clear rules for all Ericsson companies and business units. One change was that it was no longer permitted to use the term Group in internal or external communications. Instead, Ericsson was to be used as the collective name for all operations.
Further revisions and refinements of the CVI were made in 1995 to meet the requirements for consumer marketing efforts. The manual now became a corporate directive.
In 1999, the name of the CVI was changed to Corporate Visual Language (CVL) to emphasize the importance of uniform profiling using a common graphic language. Ericsson also launched two corporate typefaces, Ericsson Sans and Ericsson Roman, which are variants of the typefaces Neue Helvetica and Garamond 3. Ericsson’s typefaces contain both Cyrillic and Eastern European characters.
In parallel, work was initiated to create common visual expressions for exhibition activities in all markets. With the introduction of the Events Guidelines in 1999, tools and a uniform concept are created that quickly establish a clear marketing profile for Ericsson. In the same year, the entire CVL was also published on the internal web.
Author: Johan W Fischerström
