100 years International Telecommunication Union UIT - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1965 - 40

The Deutsche Bundespost publishes this stamp in order to point out that the International Telecommunication Union, abbreviated to UIT, was founded on 17 May 1865, that is to say on the day of issue for exactly one hundred years. This institution, which has an impact beyond national borders, has gained its own sign. It consists of a globe diagonally crossed by a lightning bolt, which at the same time bears the inscription UIT in voluminous antique letters. From these three superimposed optical layers arise in places overlaps, which bring with it some ambiguity. To clarify or eliminate them, the graphic designers involved in the tender were given the freedom to rearrange the three individual elements of the sign and thus seek a different version that would benefit the brand. Waldemar Hörnig and Hans Joachim Klein each sent a draft. Two proposals were received from Herbert Stelzer, three each from Friedemann Lichtwitz, Eugen Weiß and Peter Steiner, and five from Günter Jacki. An overview shows that seven drafts contain the unaltered signet, while in the remaining eleven proposals an attempt has been made to find a form, more or less liberal, that comes closer to today's conception. The most successful solution of this kind was seen by the Art Council in the work of Herbert Stelzer, because with her without too arbitrary deviations from the old character, a pleasing freshness could be achieved, in particular through a lively color scheme, harmonized with blue, red and white. The telecommunications experts of the Deutsche Bundespost finally placed so much importance on adopting the signet unchanged in its original version, leaving only the relatively clearest proposal of this kind. The Federal Minister for the Post and Telecommunications has joined this second election and determined the vertical format proposal of Friedemann Lichtwitz for execution. The brand has been produced in the Federal Printing Office Berlin in two-color offset printing blue and black.