NASA's Logo From The '70s Was Ridiculously Cool

In 1974, the new york studio of Danne & Blackburn took on a massive client. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (you might know it as NASA) was looking for a rebranding after 15 years of the “meatball,” their colloquial nickname for the circular blue logo which showcased “NASA” surrounded by a sprinkle of stars, a flying rocket ship and a bright red arrow.

Danne & Blackburn replaced the meatball with a modern logotype of “NASA” that was called—get this—the worm. Yes, the meatball was replaced with the worm. With heavy lettering and ‘A’s reminiscent of rocket nosecones, the new logotype was precise and futuristic. It was certainly a far cry from its slightly goofy precedent. It also, as Pentagram partner Michael Bierut pointed out to Display magazine, looked pretty damn good on the side of a spaceship.

The design team at Danne & Blackburn then spent the next decade creating and tweaking what would become the NASA graphics manual, a definitive guide to employing the new graphics system. As Display wrote:

The Manual continued to evolve over the next decade. In the end it would reach about 90 pages and cover every aspect of NASA: Ground vehicles, all aircraft, the Space Shuttle, signing, uniform patches, publications of every kind, office forms, signing, public service film titles, space vehicles, and satellite markings.

Every so often the manual re-enters the internet's consciousness and reminds us of how freakin' cool the logomark really was. NASA switched back to the meatball in 1992, almost 20 years after the modernist design was introduced. Maybe it's time for another switcheroo?

Check out the manual here on Flickr.