TRIVIAL PU – What connects UTECH with Aeroflot, Universal and the BBC?

As you will doubtless get bored of hearing by December, this year is the 40th anniversary of Urethanes Technology International – or Urethanes Technology, as it was known before 2007 – though it has always been an international magazine, with an international readership and distribution. Even before 2007, the front cover of the magazine read “Urethanes Technology” on the masthead (or nameplate, in US English) and “The Polyurethane Industry’s International Journal” on the footer.

This article is the first of a regular series – to run throughout 2024 – showcasing titbits (tidbits, in US English) and trivia from the UT archives; mostly weird and wonderful stories from this amazing industry but also, like this, some moments of self-indulgence.

Many times, when presenting my business card – which carries the logos of both Urethanes Technology International and UTECH – I have heard the surprising response: “I didn’t know Urethanes Technology International and UTECH were the same company.”

Not only are they the same company (caveat: many UTECH shows are co-produced with exhibition industry partners), they were also conceived together. The first issue of Urethanes Technology dropped – to use modern parlance – in March 1984. UTECH was first referenced in our pages in December 1984, our third ever issue (we were a quarterly publication back then) and it was here that UTECH’s iconic logo made its first appearance. 
 

The front cover of that issue had this to say:

The above symbol for UTECH '86 – our major polyurethanes meeting set for March 18-20, 1986 — will become increasingly familiar as the programme for the event is developed.
Intended to give the PU business sector a chance to discuss its future and to demonstrate its current strengths, the meeting is thought to be the first of its kind in the world — the first time that the sector's longer-term business prospects can be discussed and analysed alongside an exhibition of process equipment, raw materials and other services.
The conference is still taking shape but speakers have already been lined up from three of the major international associations and some of the main suppliers of raw materials and processing equipment.

Inside that issue, UT’s launch (and longest-serving) editor, David Reed, explained the whens, wheres and whys of UTECH. The first UTECH would be held in The Hague, Netherlands, in March 1986. Reed also revealed that the UTECH logo was designed by Michael Peters.

Peters is something of a corporate identity guru in the UK. He studied at the London School of Printing, where he was taught by Harry Beck (best known for creating the groundbreaking, diagrammatic, geographically inaccurate, London Underground map in 1931). After graduating, Peters won a scholarship to Yale University’s School of Art and Architecture, where he studied under Paul Rand. If that name is unfamiliar, his work isn’t: Rand was one of the great US graphic designers of the C20, responsible for instantly recognisable logos that are still used today, including those of IBM and ABC (US television network).

Peters helped define the identity of UK businesses and organisations in the 1970s and 1980s. The identities created by his consultancies (plural: he moved about a bit) during this period included those for consumer products including J-Cloth, Yorkshire Tea, Snopake, and Winsor & Newton; and organisations including the British public broadcaster BBC (the logo used between 1988-1997), the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the UK’s Conservative Party (variations of his “flaming torch” logo represented the party from the 1980s until 2006).

Peters was an awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire, the third highest UK order of chivalry) in 1990. That same year Michael Peters Group went bankrupt. But Peters’ career was resurrected – and went global – two years later, when he founded a new corporate identity consultancy, Identica. This consultancy put him a global stage he hadn’t experienced since designing the UTECH logo, with major commissions for Diageo (including Johnnie Walker), the logo for Universal used between 1997 and 2012, and the livery for Russian airline Aeroflot (2003-date).

Peters’ work is compiled in the book Yes Logo: 40 Years of Michael Peters Branding Design and Communication by Sarah Owens, published by Black Dog Publishing.

Editor’s note: the comment about the UTECH logo putting Peters on a global stage is, of course, in jest. Sadly, our logo doesn’t feature in Owens’ otherwise meticulous book. I should also note that, while Peters’ name was on the door, we cannot confirm who actually designed the UTECH logo. As with architectural practices, the titular leader often gets the credit for projects led by members of the team. Of the projects mentioned above, the key designers were Jane Seager (J-Cloth), Mark Wickens (Snopake), Fred Fehlau and Pat Perchal (Yorkshire Tea), Geoff Hockey and Michael Peters (Winsor & Newton), Jonathon Ford and Michael Peters (Conservative Party), Glen Tutssel (V&A), Glen Tutssel and Mark Pearce (BBC), Carole Laugier (Aeroflot), Jimmy Yang (Johnnie Walker), and Jimmy Yang and Geoff Halpin (Universal).