Wally Olins- Designer
Wally Olins was 'the world's leading practitioner of branding and identity', according to The Financial Times. Formerly Chairman of Wolff Olins and Chairman of Saffron Brand Consultants, he advised many of the world's leading companies, including 3i, Renault, Repsol, BT, Volkswagen, Tata and Lloyd's of London and also worked with many countries, regions and cities, among them Portugal and Poland. He acted as an advisor to both McKinsey and Bain.
He was born in London and educated at Oxford, where he read history. Early in his career he became head of what is now the Ogilvy advertising agency in India where he lived for 5 years. Olins later returned to London, where he co-founded 'Wolff Olins' with Michael Wolff. He was chairman there until 1997. In 2001 he co-founded 'Saffron Brand Consultants' with ex-colleague from Wolff Olins Jacob Benbunan. Over 250,000 copies of his books have been sold in 18 languages, including the seminal works, Corporate Identity, Wally Olins On B®and, The Brand Handbook and Brand New. His approach is sociological and anthropological as well as commercial.
He held Fellowships and Professorships at a number of leading Business Schools and Universities around the world, including Said Business School at Oxford University.
Historical Events First Man on the Moon - The moon landings brought the start of the 21st Century technological advances as we know them today. The use of computers is now prominent in Olins' work with packages such as Adobe® Illustrator™, Photoshop™ and InDesign™.
Fall of the Twin Towers - This could have affected Olins business as many other businesses were destroyed during the September 2001 terrorist attacks, and Wally Olins is a corporate designer.
World War II
Falklands War
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Queen Elizabeth II Coronation

Awards
Wally Olins was awarded a CBE in 1999. He was nominated for the Prince Philip Designers Prize in 1999 and was given the Royal Society of Arts’ Bicentenary Medal in 2000. Later, he was awarded the D&AD President’s Award in 2003 and the Reputation Institute’s first Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

Teaching
Olins has taught at many business schools including London Business School, Said Business School at Oxford, Lancaster University, Imperial College Business School, Copenhagen Business School and Duxx University in Mexico and he holds lectures around the world on branding and communication.

Contemporary Designers
Many modern logo designs are similar in style to Olins' work in that they are simple yet effective and have little to no detail but are recongnisable around the globe, as they are a type of art and does not have a language. There are not many designers that stand out as being influenced by Olins but you can certainly see elements of his work on TV