Presses Centrales de Lausanne is a Swiss printing company with roots tracing back to 1773, when Henri-Emmanuel Vincent acquired a printing shop in Neuchâtel. The firm later moved to Lausanne and, in 1962, changed its corporate name to Presses Centrales Lausanne SA. In 2007, after relocating its production to Renens, the company dropped “Lausanne” from its name and became PCL Presses Centrales SA. [1]
Design and History
The Presses Centrales de Lausanne symbol was designed by Swiss graphic designer Pierre Bataillard in 1970. [2] Bataillard (1927-2008) was a prolific Lausanne-based painter, graphic designer and museographer who created numerous logotypes for Vaud institutions, including the CHUV hospital, the University of Lausanne and Nagra-Kudelski. He ran his own graphic design studio in Lausanne from 1947 for forty years. [3]
Bataillard’s archive, held at the Archives cantonales vaudoises, documents his extensive logotype production for Swiss companies and institutions, though the Presses Centrales mark is not individually itemized in the publicly available archival descriptions. [4]
Meaning and Symbolism
A Swiss trademark registration for Presses Centrales Lausanne S.A. (number P-435470) claims colors of blue, black and white for the mark. The registration was later deleted. [5] Beyond this documented color claim, no official source describing the intended symbolism or design rationale of the 1970 mark has been located.
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