Indústrias Villares, the Brazilian industrial group known for elevators and steel products, received one of the most significant corporate identity programs in Brazilian design history. In 1967, the company held a closed competition for a family of marks and visual identity, and the winning proposal came from the São Paulo design office of architects João Carlos Cauduro and Ludovico Antonio Martino.[1][2]
Design and History
The Villares identity was conceived as a modular system rather than a single static mark. The symbol did not originate as one sign but as a family of signs produced by repeating a triangular module. Each arrangement made with six modules corresponded to a sign, and each sign corresponded to one of the group’s companies.[3] The system assigned four distinct symbols and four distinct colors to the four companies that existed in the group at the time: blue for Aços Villares S/A, green for Ferropeças Villares S/A (also known as VIBAR Indústria e Comércio), and red for Indústrias Villares S/A, Divisão Elevadores.[2]
The project was documented early. In 1971, the Cauduro/Martino office completed a 64-page Visual Identity Manual for Villares, and in 1972 the program was published as Ludovico Martino’s doctoral thesis at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo (FAU/USP), as well as in the magazine Acrópole in its November/December 1971 edition.[2][4]
The program evolved over time. After a project revision in 1970, the use of the symbol was expanded to both outline (traço) and filled (chapada) versions, and it could be associated with the Villares logotype in two proportion relationships and three positions.[4] The office worked with Villares for more than ten years, from the 1967 competition through the establishment of the final guidelines.[4] In 1977, the Villares identity project was included in the Cauduro/Martino presentation at the “Panorama da Identidade Visual” seminar exhibition.[5]
Cauduro himself described the Villares work as the origin of the “design total” (total design) concept in their practice. In an interview, he stated: “We worked for Villares for at least 6 years. We did everything for Villares and the idea of total design really began to emerge from this work.”[6]
Meaning and Symbolism
The modular triangular system was designed to accommodate both existing and future companies within the group. Each arrangement of six triangular modules produced a distinct sign, allowing the identity to grow as the corporate structure expanded.[3] The color coding further distinguished each subsidiary while maintaining a unified family resemblance across the group.[2]
Typography and Design
The Univers typeface was established as the “Villares alphabet” for the identity system.[2] The logotype was set in Univers bold, uppercase, and the typography was maintained through later revisions of the program.[4]
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