Toray Industries, Inc. (東レ株式会社), the Japanese chemical and advanced materials company, has used its current corporate symbol since 1986, when it was introduced to mark the company’s 60th anniversary. The symbol was created by Colin Forbes, founder of the US design company Pentagram, and was selected for its originality and its “intelligent blue” color.[1]
Design and History
The Toray corporate symbol has been altered three times since the company’s founding. The evolution is documented by Toray’s official corporate brand pages.[1]
1926-1963: Toyo Rayon Co., Ltd. was founded in 1926 as a producer of viscose rayon. The original corporate logo featured three interlocking rings placed inside a double circle, symbolizing the opportunities given by heaven, the advantages of the land, and the harmony between human beings. The arrangement also represented the formation of the four letters of TOYO.[1]
1963-1969: After World War II, abbreviated versions of the name Toyo Rayon became common. After considering “Tore” and “Toray” as possible English spellings, Toray was chosen as the official abbreviation. The corporate logo was redesigned, and both internal and external stakeholders favored a logo designed as a bobbin.[1]
1970-1986: On January 1, 1970, Toyo Rayon Co., Ltd. was officially renamed Toray Industries, Inc. The company was evolving from a general manufacturer of synthetic fibers into a comprehensive chemical company operating in sectors including plastics, fine chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. To further internationalize its business operations, the company adopted a new corporate name and symbol to make clear its intention to move beyond “Toray of the Orient” into a global Toray.[1]
1986-present: In 1986, Toray marked the 60th anniversary of its founding with a company-wide “New Foundation Campaign.” A new corporate symbol was adopted as part of the company’s Corporate Identity (CI) Project. The design by Colin Forbes was chosen for its originality and the “intelligent blue” color.[1] The project began in 1983, with the new symbol presented in 1986.[2] Pentagram’s own tribute to Forbes also lists Toray among the corporate identity programs he designed.[3]
To mark the 80th anniversary of its founding in 2006, Toray chose “Innovation by Chemistry” as a new corporate slogan to accompany the corporate symbol.[1]
Meaning and Symbolism
The current symbol represents Toray as a corporation, its employees, its facilities and assets, its products, and its message. The characteristic single quotation marks symbolize Toray’s enthusiastic attitude toward dialogue, reflecting the company’s value on communication among employees and with those outside the company, as well as its desire to be a leading presence in society.[1]
The quotation marks are used as they are in English sentences to indicate dialogue and prominence. The symbol was designed to express the Toray Group’s commitment to always communicate with society at large and ensure mutual growth, as well as its ambition to be a prominent presence in the 21st century.[1]
Called “Toray blue,” the symbol’s color is a deep, chic shade of blue that signifies intellectual refinement and precision, as well as a refined sense of fashion. This shade is also referred to as “intelligent blue.”[1] Toray Advanced Materials Korea’s CI guidelines specify the color as PANTONE 287 C, with CMYK values of C100 M80 Y0 K0 and RGB values of R0 G64 B152.[4]
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