Shy-Drager syndrome

Robert Miles Runyan, the graphic designer who has been dubbed the father of the annual report and who gave the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics its memorable logo, passed away on July 27, 2001. He was 76.

Born in Falls City, Nebraska, in 1925, Runyan served in the Marines and was an alumnus of Art Center and the Chouinard Institute, both in Los Angeles. Starting with ad work and LP covers, he founded the eponymous Robert Miles Runyan & Associates in Playa del Rey, California, in 1956.

Runyan's breakthrough came with his first corporate commission, a 1959 annual report for an L.A.-area military contractor called Litton Industries. Runyan applied the typography and design of magazines and books to a genre that had until then been largely spreadsheets and dry looking text. "Symbiology" was a method by which he used original graphics and photos to develop a narrative for the then-- young company. This methodology launched his firm into high demand: he opened a New York office in 1963 and at the height of its success, he was churning out as many as 48 annual reports a year. Runyan also worked to develop corporate identity packages for such clients as Mattel, Rockwell International and Vuarnet. What guaranteed Runyan's place in the public consciousness was his "Stars in Motion" logo for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Five striped stars of varying density blurred their way from left to right atop the five Olympic rings. He worked out some 3,500 sketches before settling on the concept. A book of his work, State of the Art of Robert Miles Runyan, was published in 1983.

Runyan cultivated an informal personal look: mustached and often sporting a cowboy hat and jeans, he was likened to the graphic world's equivalent of the Marlboro Man. A keen collector of Americana, his workspace and residence were reportedly crammed with items as esoteric as hundreds of "Do Not Disturb" signs and a dozen fully functioning gas pumps.

Runyan died at home in Ajijic, Mexico, from a neurodegenetive illness know as Shy-Drager syndrome. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

-Jamie Reynolds

Copyright Graphis Inc. Jan/Feb 2002
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