Famous buttons
In this section you will be introduced to a number of button-badges that have acquired a historic value of have played an important role in spreading a specific sign, symbol, logo or illustration. We start with some extra explanation about the Peace symbol and the Smiley.
The Peace symbol
The peace symbol is in fact the official logo of the British organization CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) (http://www.cnduk.org) CND is a political pressure group strives for a world without atomic bombs and weapons of mass destruction, in a non violent way.
The origin of the smiley buttons
In December 1963 the American insurance company State Mutual Assurance Company (Worcester, Massachusetts, USA) wanted to take action to raise the morale of its employees. The company just had a fusion and the enthusiasm of the personal was very poorly. This task was appointed to the one-man company Harvey Ball Advertising, also from Worcester.
Harvey Ball (1921 – 2001) immediately went to work with a black marker and a sheet of yellow paper. First he sketched only the circle and the smile, but he quickly added also the 2 eyes, to avoid that a few cynical employees would hang the design upside down. It was said that the job was done in less than 10 minutes: the smiley – or Happy Face as it was called then – was born !