The Upjohn Company, a Kalamazoo, Michigan pharmaceutical manufacturer, used a series of corporate logos over its lifetime. The company’s product branding, including the antibiotic Lincocin (lincomycin hydrochloride monohydrate), appeared on packaging and promotional materials that carried the corporate mark of the era. Lincocin was introduced by Upjohn in the mid-1960s, with the trademark filed in 1965 and the drug approved by the FDA in December 1964.[1][2]
Design and History
Upjohn’s corporate identity evolved through seven distinct logos between 1886 and 1961.[3] The company’s early marks included a thumb crushing a pill, which remained the logo until 1945.[4] A collector’s archive of Upjohn logos documents marks from 1891, 1897, 1905, 1907, 1910, 1913, 1938, 1945, 1961 and 1986.[5]
The 1961 logo, which would have been the corporate mark in use when Lincocin launched, is described as a stylized circle of U’s.[5] This mark replaced the previous logo in 1961 and remained the company’s identity through the 1960s, the period when Lincocin packaging and promotional materials were produced.[5]
Designer Will Burtin worked with Upjohn for 22 years as a design consultant and art director, beginning in 1949.[6] Burtin is documented as having designed logo, letterhead and envelope mock-ups for Upjohn, with sketches and mechanicals held in the Cary Graphic Design Archives at RIT.[7] However, no source confirms that Burtin designed the specific 1961 corporate logo or any Lincocin-specific mark.
Meaning and Symbolism
Documented symbolism exists for a later Upjohn-era mark. After the 1995 merger forming Pharmacia & Upjohn, the company promoted a logo depicting a bird, a hand and a star on a rock, created by the design firm Newell and Sorrell. According to the Pharmacia & Upjohn Corporate Identity Guideline book, the symbols on the rock reflect the qualities of humanity, innovation and aspiration.[8] This mark dates from the post-merger period and is not associated with the 1960s Lincocin era.
For the 1961 stylized circle of U’s logo, no documented explanation of its symbolism has been located in the available research.
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