House Organ: Communicating Corporate Culture

      Introduction

      During the industrial boom following the Second World War, Italy experienced a lively tradition of house organs and company magazines. This tradition was not limited to famous publications such as «Pirelli» or «Civiltà delle Macchine», but was also widespread among smaller companies, often belonging to strategic sectors of Italian manufacturing. This phenomenon has continued and still represents an opportunity for some Italian companies to mediate between the worlds of production and culture.

      House organs were created primarily as a means of internal communication: magazines capable of informing, strengthening the sense of belonging and “educating” the community of employees. For this reason, bulletins and magazines are now valuable historical sources that document not only industrial activity, but also everyday factory life and the social dynamics of work.

      At the same time, the corporate press played a role as a sounding board for companies in society, proving decisive in building their public image. It was the means through which innovative communication strategies were implemented to dialogue with different audiences and become part of a broader system of communication and promotion activities.

      Another characteristic feature is its ability to act as a bridge between the so-called “two cultures”: the technical-scientific and the artistic-literary. In this sense, there are numerous examples from the past as well as more recent ones: periodicals that integrate different disciplines and knowledge, anticipating reflections that are still relevant today and allowing readers to approach seemingly distant worlds.

        Impresa Rivista

        On the occasion of the third edition of Mag to Mag, the independent magazine festival (13-14 September 2025, BASE Milano), AIAP CDPG, in collaboration with Paper Paper Studio (Cecilia Bianchini and Giovanni Cavalleri), curated the exhibition Impresa Rivista. Graphic Design and Communication in Italian House Organs from the 1940s to Today.

        Through a selection of house organs produced from the 1940s to the present day, the exhibition aimed to be a pretext for reflecting on and discussing the relationship between communication design culture and corporate culture. It also explored the role that these tools can play today in corporate strategies and in building relationships with internal and external stakeholders, not necessarily close to the field of action of the companies themselves.

          Case Studies

          Bracco 3
          A bimonthly magazine published between 1967 and 1970 by Fulvio Bracco’s pharmaceutical company. Each issue was divided into three separate sections: “Bracco 1” for doctors, “Bracco 2” for the home, and “Bracco 3” for doctors’ waiting rooms. Until 1969, the magazine was sent by post in a cardboard sleeve. The art director was designer Mario Scheichenbauer.

          Humus
          A unique magazine published between 1973 and 1975 by Iris Ceramiche in Fiorano Modenese. Only five issues were published, all of which were very dense and rich in content, which was quite unusual for a company magazine. It was edited by Sergio Albergoni and Gianni Sassi’s Al.Sa agency and, in many ways, was a continuation of Busnelli industrial group’s “Caleidoscopio” magazine.

          Caleidoscopio
          Published by the Busnelli Group for more than 25 years, it was first and foremost a cultural magazine of considerable importance for the development of the debate on architecture and design. Since 1969, the magazine has been edited by Gianni Sassi and Sergio Albergoni, who have given it a significant new direction.

          Parete
          A quarterly magazine published by IGAP (Impresa Generale Affissioni Pubblicità), first published in 1964. The publication dealt with both technical topics related to printing and design, with monographic articles dedicated to designers and case studies, with a particular focus on advertising, billboards and posters.

          Imago
          Fourteen issues published between 1960 and 1971. A complex editorial project born thanks to the meeting between Michele Provinciali and Raffaele Bassoli, owner of Bassoli Fotoincisioni. ‘Imago’ was a fantastic collection of wonders, printed by the best graphic art workshops, which were also involved in demonstrating their typographical and printing quality.

          Pirelli
          A magazine aimed at the general public and published between 1948 and 1972. It dealt with technical and scientific topics in simple language that was understandable to everyone. Some of the biggest names in journalism, literature, art and design contributed to it, including Eugenio Montale, Umberto Eco, Elio Vittorini, Renato Guttuso, Fulvio Bianconi, Bob Noorda and Pino Tovaglia.

          Rivista Italsider
          Published from 1961, and for the first four years of the steel company’s existence, it was particularly appreciated for its support of contemporary art. Each issue featured works by some of the most advanced artists of the period on its cover. Distributed free of charge, not only to employees, it was characterised by Eugenio Carmi’s refined visual choices.

          Colors
          A quarterly magazine founded in 1991 by Tibor Kalman and Oliviero Toscani and published until 2014, with a total of 90 issues. Published by Fabrica, Benetton’s communication research centre, each issue was dedicated to a specific subject, developed through a rich iconographic apparatus.

            Enrico Ciuti

            Enrico Ciuti

            Enrico Ciuti (Milan, 1910 – Lugano, 1991), who initially trained as a set designer, began working in advertising around 1928. His friendship and collaboration with Marcello Nizzoli, Bruno Munari and Edoardo Persico drove him towards experimentation with forms and materials. He collaborated with Fiat, Lanerossi, Mondadori, Montecatini, Tecno and Ideal-Standard, for which, as from the late 1950s, he designed the house organ for about a decade. He collaborated with magazines such as «Domus» and «L’Ufficio Moderno», designing various covers. After retiring from the profession, he devoted himself to painting and sculpture.
            Guido Crepax

            Guido Crepax

            Guido Crepax (Milan, 1933 – 2003), who was born Guido Crepas, began working as a graphic designer and advertising illustrator while studying at the Faculty of Architecture from where he graduated in 1959, creating posters and covers for magazines (including the Italian edition of «Galaxy»), books and LPs (including Domenico Modugno’s world-famous “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu”). In 1957, he became famous for his Shell advertising campaign, which received the Palme d’Or for advertising. In 1958, he began collaborating with «Tempo Medico», the first Italian medical magazine, for which he designed all the covers until the mid-1980s. In 1963, he embarked on his career as a cartoonist, and two years later created the famous character Valentina Rosselli, girlfriend of art critic Philip Rembrandt, who first appeared in the comic magazine «Linus».
            Ilio Negri

            Ilio Negri

            Ilio Negri (Milan, 1926 – 1974) was among the leading figures in postwar graphic design. He was a methodical, rigorous designer and he worked for Lerici, Pirelli, Boffi, Innocenti, and Total. He was among the key figures of the Swiss School in Italy. After completing an apprenticeship at his father’s printing shop, he founded his own studio in 1946 and worked in graphic design and advertising. In 1955, he established a professional partnership with Giulio Confalonieri, also known as Studio Industria. Negri and Confalonieri created tandem projects for Cassina, Tecno, Poltronova, Delitala, Mobilia, Bernini, Cantieri Carugati, Fulget, Pirelli, and Chimica Lucana. In 1963, together with Michele Provinciali and Pino Tovaglia, they founded the CNPT studio. From 1965, he chose to pursue his professional activity independently.
            He was a member of the research group of the Nebiolo company, for which he designed, together with Aldo Novarese and others, the Forma typeface, which received a mention at the Compasso d’Oro awards ceremony in 1971. Furthermore, he was the author of the Autobianchi and Lagostina brands.
            Esplora il Ilio Negri Fund
            Michele Provinciali

            Michele Provinciali

            Michele Provinciali (Parma, 1921 – Novilara, Pesaro, 2009), graduated from Urbino in 1947 with a thesis in art history. In 1951, he won a scholarship to the Institute of Design in Chicago founded by Moholy-Nagy. He returned to Italy and participated in the 10th Milan Triennale, achieving both an international diploma of honour and a gold medal. In 1955 he won, in collaboration with Gino Valle, the Compasso d’Oro award. In 1963, he founded the CNPT studio together with Giulio Confalonieri, Ilio Negri and Pino Tovaglia. He then worked for clients such as Splugen Braü, Zanotta, Kartell, Cassina, Arflex, Gavina, Simon, Pirelli, RAI, Banca d’Italia, Condé-Nast, and Alinari. Within the field of editorial graphics, he worked alongside Alberto Rosselli for «Stile Industria» and Vittorio Gregotti for «Edilizia Moderna». He was the art director of «Imago» and designer of countless pages and covers also for «Abitare» and «Domus». His lengthy trips to Iran, made between 1968 and 1976, marked a turning point in Provinciali’s life, converting him definitively to art. He was a lecturer at the ISIA in Urbino and an honorary member of AIAP. In 2008, he received a Compasso d’Oro Award for Lifetime Achievement. 
            Bob Noorda

            Bob Noorda

            Bob Noorda (Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1927 – Milan, Italy, 2010) was a graduate of the Rietveld Academy, he moved to Milan in 1954 to devote himself to design. He collaborated with some of Italy’s most important companies and institutions. He designed more than 150 brands including AGIP, AEM, AMSA, Banca Commerciale Italiana, Banca CRT Torino, Banco di Desio, Brionvega, Coop and Ipercoop, Enel, Feltrinelli Editore, Italtel, Mondatori, Regione Lombardia and TCI. He designed signage for Line 1 of the Milan underground railway and also for those in New York and Sao Paulo, Brazil. He created the coordinated corporate identity of book series and magazines for major publishers, such as Feltrinelli, Vallecchi and TCI.
            He won the Compasso d’Oro in 1964, 1972, 1978 and, in 1995, for his career.
            He was a lecturer at the Società Umanitaria in Milan, at ISIA in Urbino, at IUAV in Venice, at IED in Milan, and at the Politecnico di Milano, which awarded him an honorary degree in Industrial Design in 2005.
            Gianni Sassi

            Gianni Sassi

            Gianni Sassi (Varese, 1938 – Milan, 1993) was a prolific Italian art director, photographer, publisher and record producer.
            In 1965, together with Gianni Emilio Simonetti, Daniela Palazzoli and Sergio Albergoni, he opened the publishing house ED912, which specialised in printing catalogues and posters by contemporary artists, and edited the publication of “DA-A/U DELÀ. A Magazine of Arts and Literature”. The following year, together with Simonetti and Palazzoli, he founded “Bit”, a magazine dedicated to the visual arts, and with Albergoni, the advertising graphics agency Al.Sa., with which he designed ‘Caleidoscopio’ (1969), a six-monthly magazine on culture, design and furniture production, and edited “Humus” (1971) for Iris Ceramiche, a quarterly magazine on ceramic culture and art.
            In the 1960s, he began collaborating with the record label Bla Bla Records, for which he created, among others, the covers for the albums “Terra in bocca” (1971, I Giganti), “Foetus” and “Pollution” (1971 and 1972, Franco Battiato’s first as a solo artist). In 1973, he founded Cramps Records with Albergoni, which remained active until 1980.
            From 1979, he worked first as art director and then as editor of the magazine «Alfabeta: mensile di informazione culturale» (Alfabeta: monthly cultural information magazine), which over the course of a decade brought together a large group of intellectuals (including Nanni Balestrini, Umberto Eco, Gino Di Maggio, Antonio Porta and Paolo Volponi) in an attempt to respond to the turbulent events of the time. In 1982, with the support of Massimo Dolcini, he founded «La Gola», a revolutionary magazine dedicated to gastronomy and material culture.
            He was one of the promoters of the first Biennale della Grafica di Cattolica (1984).
            Eugenio Carmi

            Eugenio Carmi

            Eugenio Carmi (Genoa, 1920 – Lugano, 2016) was a painter, among the most significant figures of Italian abstractionism. In 1963, he founded the Galleria del Deposito in Boccadasse (Genoa), a famous meeting place for artists and intellectuals of that period; in 1966, he was invited to exhibit at the Venice Biennale. 
            From 1957 to 1965, he edited the image of the Cornigliano-Italsider steel industry and for the information magazine focusing on the «Cornigliano» workers which later became «Rivista Italsider». He designed ads for Binaca, Bertolli and installations for the Municipality of Genoa. In his capacity as a member of the AGI, he was considered one of the innovators of the graphic language in the 1950s and 1960s.
            Pino Tovaglia

            Pino Tovaglia

            Pino Tovaglia (Milan, 1923 – 1977), taught graphic design from 1946 at the Scuola Superiore di Arte Applicata (Superior School of Applied Art) at the Sforzesco Castle and later at the Società Umanitaria in Milan, the Polytechnic School of Design (SPD) and the ISIA in Urbino. Through a series of important ads designed for Finmeccanica, in 1954, he introduced the use of line photography, which earned him a National Advertising Award. In 1958, he won the Palme d’Or for his Lanerossi series. In the early 1960s, he founded the CNPT studio together with Giulio Confalonieri, Ilio Negri and Michele Provinciali. In 1967, he became part of the Exhibition Design research group and designed the Radiotelefortuna symbol for RAI. From 1967 to 1970, he was also art director of Pirelli. He has been the author of a variety of brands, including those for Nebiolo, Ottagono, Alfa Romeo and Flos. In 1974, he also designed, in conjunction with Munari, Sambonet and Noorda, the brand for the Lombardy Regional Government, which was awarded the Compasso d’Oro prize in 1979. In 1998, he received a posthumous Compasso d’Oro award for his career. He had been a member of ADI since 1961. He was both a founder member and the president of ADCM.
            Claudia Morgagni

            Claudia Morgagni

            Claudia Morgagni (Milan, 1928 – 2002) was a graphic designer, an artist and a teacher, active between the 1950s and the 1980s. She began by working with advertising agencies, such as Itam.Co, and Santagostino, an important yarn and textile manufacturer of that period. In 1957, she opened her own professional studio and quickly gained a distinguished client portfolio that included, among others, Decca, Esso, Orzoro, Kneipp, Lanerossi, Montedison, Ruffino, Pellizzari, Tupperware, Ciba Farmaceutici, and IBM.
            In 2019, she was awarded the AWDA Memorial Award as a role model for women designers and women.
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