William Golden (graphic designer)

Golden's work ethic set an entirely new standard for American design, as he developed, directed, and sustained the visual program at CBS. During his tenure as creative director for advertising and sales promotion, all of the ads, promotional materials, and other corporate design projects were of a consistently high aesthetic quality, despite Golden's own belief that the business and marketing objectives were always of highest importance, and aesthetic quality was secondary to these objectives. At the height of his career, Golden's life ended abruptly at the age of 48; he died of a heart attack on October 23, 1959.

This photo montage ran as a full-page New York Times ad on April 13, 1959. In this ad, Golden selected a wide array of different images from CBS News broadcasts to show the range of topics that CBS had reported on, while simultaneously announcing that CBS had won the Peabody Award for Public Service for the third year in a row. This ad also demonstrates the use of the Didot Bodoni typeface and the Eye logo together, showing the maturity of the CBS identity.

These two advertisements ran in Variety in 1954 and 1955. Which Way In? was CBS's answer to which medium was the best format to deliver news to the public. As radio had grown in the preceding 30 years to compete with newspapers and print media, the debate arose as to whether news was more effective in visual format (the printed page) or in audio format (the radio broadcast). CBS's answer was that clearly television was better than both, since it was able to bring you the sound and emotion of the human voice, while simultaneously providing you images (still photos or video clips) that showed you the actual location of the news event. Target was an announcement of CBS's achievement of the goal to deliver their programs to the largest audience at the lowest cost. The CBS network had been the highest-rated network for many years and had been gaining a reputation as the most effective network for advertisers to reach the largest audience. This ad was a reinforcement of that fact.

Because of their respect for one another, Stanton and Golden had a very productive relationship. Stanton gave Golden authority over the image of CBS, believing that design was a high priority within CBS and trusting Golden's sense of visual form. Golden was named creative director of advertising and sales promotion for CBS Television Network in 1951. Because of his friendship with Stanton, Golden was able to set the direction for CBS's promotion and image. Although he frequently submitted designs to Stanton, it was understood that they were not for Stanton to approve or reject, but rather to keep him informed as to what Golden had decided to do.

In 1937, Golden left Condé Nast and joined the promotion department at CBS, where he worked for three years before being promoted to art director. Golden's design program went beyond the promotion of CBS as a radio network, producing advertisements that helped to define radio as a news medium. His ads emphasized the ability of radio to bring historic events to its audience in a way no other medium could at that time. Golden took a leave of absence in 1941 to join the Office of War Information in Washington, D.C. In 1943, he entered the U.S. Army as a private, and served in Europe as art director of army training manuals. He was discharged from the military in 1945 with the rank of captain.

William Golden (March 31, 1911 – October 23, 1959) was an American graphic designer. He is best known for his work at Columbia Broadcasting System, starting in the CBS Radio promotion department (before broadcast television existed) and culminating in his tenure as creative director of advertising and sales promotion for CBS Television Network. Golden gained a reputation for always striving for a perfect, simple solution to the problem at hand, producing an original and distinguished design to convey the message.

William Golden was born in lower Manhattan on March 31, 1911, the youngest of twelve children. His only formal schooling was at the Vocational School for Boys, where he learned photoengraving and the basics of commercial design. Upon his graduation from school in 1928, the seventeen-year-old Golden left home and moved to Los Angeles to work for a photoengraving and lithography firm, and while in Los Angeles he also worked in the art department of the Examiner. Golden returned to New York in the early 1930s, where he worked first as a promotional designer for Hearst's Journal American before joining the staff of House & Garden magazine, a production of Condé Nast Publications. While at Condé Nast, Golden met his wife, the graphic designer Cipe Pineles, and came to serve as an apprentice to Dr. Mehemed Fehmy Agha, art director of Condé Nast Publications.