Carl Steinherr was a German-born graphic designer who worked in Amsterdam during the 1960s and 1970s. He is best known for designing the original TROS television logo in 1966, a mark that remained in use for decades. A self-branded logo attributed to Steinherr from 1964 also exists, documented as an outline-style square mark.
Design and History
Carl Steinherr was born in Munich, where he studied at the Akademie für das Graphische Gewerbe, and later worked as a freelance designer for clients including Lufthansa. He moved to Amsterdam in 1962, where he became an instructor and later assistant art director at the Famous Artist Schools, a correspondence school for commercial art and illustration that had been introduced to Europe in 1961 with its headquarters in Amsterdam.[1]
In 1966, the TROS broadcaster asked the instructors at the Famous Artist Schools to design a logo, and Steinherr’s entry was selected. The design was based on the eye, consisting of four graphically stylized eyes that together form the mark, which one commentator described as a rosette around a television screen.[1] The TROS star logo, as it became known, was used in the broadcaster’s first ident and remained in use for many years.[2]
Steinherr returned to Munich in the mid-1970s.[1]
Meaning and Symbolism
For the TROS logo, the eye served as the starting point of the design. The mark is composed of four graphically stylized eyes, which together form the overall shape.[1] A contemporary commentator, graphic designer Rolf Mager, offered a satirical analysis in 1980, describing the form as a rosette around a television screen, constructed with a compass, directionless and identical from all sides.[1]
Regarding Steinherr’s 1964 self-branded logo, the mark is documented as an outline-style square design created by Steinherr himself.[3] No further documented symbolism or design intent for this personal mark has been found.
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