Paul Giambarba

SCRATCHBOARD ILLUSTRATIONS

Catboat and old light, circa1965

Gay Head Light, circa 1965

Old trading post, circa 1965

Fitts Museum, Circa 1948

Old Brewster Village, circa 1965

Falmouth Green, circa 1965

Trout, circa 1965

Cape Cod sailor, circa 1965

Northern Light, circa 1965

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DRAWINGS

Michelle-2, charcoal pencil, c1970

Michelle-1, charcoal pencil, c1970

Unknown-1, charcoal pencil, c1970

Unknown-3, charcoal pencil, c1970

Nude and fishing boat, pen and ink, 1958

Nun, Rome, circa 1960

Forlorn, Costa Brava, circa 1960

Cadaquez, Spain, circa 1960

Bergen, Norway, 1957

Langeais, France, 1958

Imaginary inland fort, sketch for painting, 1958

Scroll down to see this in Paintings

Imaginary island fort, sketch for painting, 1958

Scroll down to see this in Paintings

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GRAPHIC DESIGN

Collage for greeting card made from NZZ, Zürich, 1969

PG business card, 1969

Kyoto-Boston Sister City Committee logo, circa 1970

Poster for Yacht Club, Costa Smeralda, 1971

Tonka Corporation, 1974

[subsidiary] Tonka Toys, 1975

Rstaurant logo, Cotuit MA, circa 1981

Regional magazine logo, 1981

Logo for fabrics, circa 1981

Package design as part of an entire line of product for Impossible GmbH, Vienna, 2009

Poster, Adobe Photoshop, 2012

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D E S I G N / Product Identity

Beginning at the top is the Polaroid mark I did in 1958, its application to package design and corporate identity, which is the bottom panel just above the date, 1958. Somewhere in the lower right of the photo is the corporate sign POLAROID, identical to the mark above. On the left are package designs for Polaroid Sunglasses, 1962, Polaroid Colorpack and black-and-white filmpacks, package design for a Polaroid Colorpack camera, and to the far left, package design and product identity for Polavision, 1977. At the bottom of the row is a package design and product identity for a Polaroid Square Shooter camera. In the row on the right are package designs and product identity for Polaroid SX-70 cameras and accessories, dating from 1972, and just below is a photo of package design for Polaroid Pronto!

Quotes from an article by John Weich, in Grafik [UK} August 2005 --

"Like Apple today, Polaroid supplemented its superior product with superior branding. . . ." "In 1958 the company decided to hire freelance designer Paul Giambarba with a view to revitalizing the brand. This was the start of a relationship that was to last an amazing twenty-five years—Giambarba changed the face of Polaroid. He was responsible for creating packaging for Polaroid's Colorpacks, its SX-70, Square Shooter and Square Shooter 2 and the OneSteps. Giambarba's first initiative was to transform the logo into an uppercase News Gothic, and his second was to give the company's B&W film shelf distinction by way of black end panels, which were easily discernible in its TV spots (which, of course, were black and white). "The first round of rebranding lent Polaroid some design credibility, but its second, more significant evolution elevated the brand to design icon. . . ." Thank you, John and thank you, Grafik Editor Caroline Roberts.

Grafik is the UK's only magazine dedicated entirely to showcasing the most exciting new graphic design work every month. It's also an essential tool for a designer in search of information and inspiration.

For more click on The Branding of Polaroid

[How we beat Eastman Kodak and its little yellow boxes in the marketplace

despite a clunky product and an irrelevant corporate name]

My package design based on a need to be seen amid a saturation of Eastman Kodak yellow in the marketplace, 1958

This is what Polaroid had been struggling with in 1957. See colors, below:

M.I.T. colors and the crossed filters we called soap bubbles, 1957

Kodak yellow sat on these timid colors and an impossible to read Polaroid

My first job was to set Polaroid in caps to distinguish the A from the O in a legible type face . . .

. . . that could be used as corporate as well as product ID.

By 1966 we got the brand very visible and recognizable.

Set-up boxes did double duty as pedestals as well, 1958

Polaroid store interior and exterior illuminated signage, 1958

I then concentrated on creating a flag for Polaroid products. The very first was for sunglasses, 1962.

This image eventually became iconic internationally. The sunglasses were not sold in the USA.

The flag for photo products became this after Polacolor was introduced in 1968

The color stripes endured for all photo products through 1977:

1970

1975

1977

Then, for something completely different there was the entire SX-70 family of products

Polaroid SX-70 camera line and accessories, 1972

More Polaroid SX-70 cameras and accessories, 1976

I took on another corporate and product ID challenge on the shores of Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota

Tonka Corporation, 1974

Joint venture, 1974

Old Tonka Toys logo caused all kinds of register problems in printing.

My redesigned logo for Tonka Toys caused virtually no color registration problems, 1975

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B O O K S

As designer and illustrator for national publishers

Printed cover, 1963

My original dummy, 1963

Client: D.C. Heath, 1963

Client: Houghton-Mifflin, 1963

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As designer, author and illustrator for my own Scrimshaw Press:

2 Editions, 6 Printings

1967

Hand-made rack, 1967

1967

1969

1985

3 Editions

1967

1985

2 Editions

circa 1966

2 Editions

1969

2002

2 Editions

1985

Doubleday, 1969

3 Editions

Branding of Polaroid 2005, 2008, 2010; 30 Years of Instant Photos 2011, 2012

Atlantic, Little Brown, 1969

OnCape Publications, 2000

2 Printings

______________________

Monographs

2005

2011

2014

2017

2016

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Paul & Fran Giambarba

1Following

34Followers

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P H O T O G R A P H Y

Edward Gorey, circa 1980

David McCullough, circa 1980

Joyce Johnson, circa 1980

Harry Holl and daughters, circa 1980

Alec Wilkinson, circa 1980

Beverly Edward, circa 1980

Alexander Theroux and parrot, circa 1980

Nancy Frangione, circa 1980

Henry Smith Rohrberg, circa 1980

Joyce Johnson, circa 1980

Miriam Rogers, circa 1980

Marion Potter Sharpe, circa 1980

Steve Whittlesey, circa 1980

Ruth, Dowses' Beach, Osterville, 1963

Ruth, Arlington, 1958

Ruth on the Bremen, 1960

__________________________

You are invited to visit my blog

Analog Photography at its best

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P R I N T S

Nude torso X 3, VI 71 silk screen print, 1971

Maggie's Drawers, silk screen print, circa 1970

Me and my one-man squeegee, 1971

Gripsholm and Gulls, silk screen print, 1971

Cape Cod Spring, silk screen print, 1963

Cape Cod Summer, silk screen print, 1963

Cape Cod Autumn, silk screen print, 1963

Cape Cod Winter, silk screen print, 1962

Schooner, V 71, silk screen print, 1971

Magpies, silk screen print, 1970

I never expected to find that one of my prints would be part of a prestigious collection. It was drawn directly on the screen with tusche and then printed by me in white paint on black paper. The original was given to the Boston chapter of CORE and they printed it by commercial lithography to include in a collection of prominent printmakers.

Provenace

Paul Giambarba
North American
The Withered Arm, c. 1960
Series/Book Title: The Freedom Prints
Print
American, 20th century
Photolithograph
35.56 x 27.94 cm (14 x 11 in.)
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Stephen Lee Taller Ben Shahn Archive,

Gift of Dolores S. Taller, M25505.5
Department of Prints, Division of Modern and Contemporary Art

This is my sketch from which the print was made. I drew two different images. As with all sketches, this is much more dynamic.