The Visual History Of Coca-Cola’s Neon Sign [Pics]

To commemorate its 125th anniversary, the history of Coca-Cola’s identity is explored in a new show in the Tank of London’s Design Museum. The display features two prominent aspects of the brand’s visual history, its famous contour bottle and the logo, charting the journey through visual stories from 1886 to present designs.

One of the highlights of the show is a rare publication documenting the design and making of the brand’s first neon sign for Piccadilly Circus in 1954. The opening page of the book reads: “Outdoor Publicity Limited are pleased to present this volume to The Coca-Cola Export Corporation to record the lighting of the Piccadilly Sign in London on July 1st, 1954.”

Today, a public display ad is merely an image projecting from a giant screen, unlike 60 years ago where its creation required several hours of hard work. Creative Review spoke with Coca-Cola’s archivist Ted Ryan about the making of these iconic neon signs. First lit on July 1, 1954, the neon sign (pictured below) was made by Claude-General Neon Lights Ltd in Wembley, Middlesex and placed in London’s Piccadilly Circus. Ryan explains, the Coca-Cola logo itself was designed by Frank Robinson in 1886 and written in Spencerian script because that was the favored typeface of accounting folk in that era. For now, take a virtual tour of the Coca-Cola archives here or get across to Shad Thames in London for a close-up look at the items on display.

Design Museum

[via Creative Review]