Designer of Pompidou Center logo dies at 96

Jean Widmer, the French-Swiss graphic designer whose minimalist aesthetic embodied the striking logo that marked the Center Pompidou’s opening in 1977, died on February 2 at the age of 96. The Center Pompidou announced his death, saying: “Since that day in 1977, Widmer’s icon has traveled the world and has survived for decades without losing its graphic power.”

The logo features a series of black lines bisected by a zigzag diagonal channel connecting the top and bottom corners, recalling the architectural style that continues to make the Pompidou one of the most recognizable buildings in the world. The building was designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, but Widmer helped refine it into a form that could be applied to countless contexts.

“This is the fastest logo I’ve ever painted in my entire career,” Widmer said in a retrospective interview with the Pompidou. “I already have the idea in my head.”

As Pompidou noted, “Although Widmer’s creation is now inseparable from the visual identity of the Center Pompidou, its adoption was far from certain. In the 1970s, when cultural marketing had not yet taken hold, the adoption of the logo still seemed uncomfortably close to advertising.”

But Widmer’s design transcended its commercial applications and became a work of art. Widmer was part of a team of renowned designers who created the Pompidou’s visual identity, including Belgian Michel Oliff, Polish Roman Ceslewicz, British Henri Kay Henrion, Swiss Adrian Frutiger and Italian Massimo Vignelli. One of their contributions to the museum was the establishment of a color-coding system to identify the different departments: red for visual arts, blue for industrial design, green for the library, and purple for music.

In addition to the Pompidou, Widmer was involved in many other notable projects that benefited from his training under Johannes Itten, a supporter of the Swiss Bauhaus, where Widmer was born in 1929. After graduating from the Zurich Academy of Art in 1950, he began working in Paris designing exteriors for department stores and luxury goods. Once served as the art director of a fashion magazine fashion gardenhe dabbled in different types of industrial design.

One of his most influential campaigns involved a series of icons marking the presence of sites along French roads. As the obituary states new york times“French officials in the early 1970s, concerned that their highways were being invaded by American-style billboards, turned to Mr. Widmer for help. He was already a successful magazine art director and poster designer for exhibitions at the National Center for Industrial Creation — the man officials believed was avoiding the horrors of advertising by directing drivers to France’s cultural treasures along the highways.”