User:EdwinHartlove/Georg Olden (graphic designer)

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Georg Elliott Olden (November 13, 1920 – February 25, 1975) was an American graphic designer who worked in television and advertising. Working at CBS, Olden helped to create the visual identities of shows such as Gunsmoke, I love Lucy, and Lassie. in 1963, Olden became the first African-American to design a postage stamp, creating a design commemorating the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Early life
George Elliot Olden was born to James Clarence Olden and Sylvia Ward Olden in Birmingham, Alabama, on November 13, 1920 as the grandson of a slave and the son of a Baptist preacher. Shortly after his birth, his family relocated to Washington D.C., where his minister to Plymouth Congregational Church. In 1933, after becoming increasingly politically active, Olden's father deserted his family in order to dedicate himself entirely to the civil rights movement. Olden attended Dunbar High School, one of the U.S.'s first public high schools for African American students, and then went on to study at Virginia State College. By his early twenties, Olden dropped the second "e" from his first name.

Olden dropped out of college after the attack on Pearl Harbor and went on to work as a designer for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), forerunner of the CIA. While working at the OSS, Olden published cartoons in National CIO News and designed posters promoting wartime conservation efforts. During this time, Olden worked for some of America's leading artists, designers and writers and made contacts that opened significant professional opportunities. When the war ended in 1945, the head of the OSS communications division, Colonel Lawrence W. Lowman, who in civilian life became Vice President of CBS's television division, was searching for someone who "had a full grasp of the whole range of commercial-art techniques." Lowman recruited Olden as a graphic designer for the network, where he lead a staff of 14 and oversaw the production of 60 weekly shows.

From 1945 to 1960, Olden worked with William Golden, art director for CBS, and as such was one of the first African-Americans to work in television. At CBS, he was an ardent champion of contemporary art, commissioning on-air art and title cards by modern artists. “The door is open for artists on TV,” he proclaimed in 1954. One example was the creation of the "To Tell the Truth man" icon that was used during the 1956-1978 seasons of that show. In 1960, he began to work in advertising and went on to design the Clio Award as well as receive seven of them. In 1960, he moved to BBDO as the TV group art supervisor. In 1963, he became the VP-senior art director at the major firm, McCann Erickson.

In 1963, he was the first African-American to design a postage stamp for the United States Postal Service. The design commemorated the centennial of the declaration of the Emancipation Proclamation with a simple design of a broken chain in black on a blue background. He attended a White House ceremony where the stamp was introduced by President John F. Kennedy