Longtime CBS design director

Lou Dorfsman, 90, the design director who helped enhance the strong image of CBS for more than four decades, died Oct. 22 of congestive heart failure in Roslyn, N.Y.

After starting as a staff designer for the CBS Radio Network in 1946, Dorfsman eventually became design director for the entire company.

In that capacity, he designed the set for “The CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite” and the floor set for the network’s political convention coverage. According to the New York Times obituary, Dorfsman “maintained tight creative control, which ensured design continuity from the CBS logo to its proprietary typeface, called CBS Didot.”

According to the New York Times, his designs featured clear typography, simple slogans and smart illustrations, which was not the norm when he started at CBS.

The son of a sign painter, Dorfsman was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1918. He studied art and design at Cooper Union and graduated in 1939. He served in the Army during World War II.

At CBS, he was also involved in fashioning advertisements for the network. To promote Cronkite’s coverage of election night in 1972, he came up with the slogan “Re-elected the Most Trusted Man in America.” To promote a four-part series on the Warren Report, he created a newspaper ad that read, “This is the bullet that hit both President Kennedy and Governor Connally. Or did it?” The full-page ad showed a close-up photograph of a hand holding a bullet.

He retired from the network in 1991.