The Creative Shift: Cold War Design Aesthetic of Severance.
After talking with a coworker about a comment from Ben Stiller about paying more attention to what’s on the dentist's tray and a Russian watch they mentioned, I quickly got curious and went down a rabbit hole.…or duck hole depending on which way you look at it (if you know you know). From its stark office spaces to its eerie corporate propaganda, Severance feels like a relic of the Cold War era, hidden in plain sight. The show’s world isn’t just unsettling, it echoes the aesthetics and psychology of Cold War infrastructure, government secrecy, and corporate loyalty programs. To avoid missing the obvious and rather striking reference, I will not be discussing the various winter wardrobes that were worn during the ORTBO, which featured blatant and bold themes of luxurious Russian winter furs.
A Design Language of Control
The graphic design choices in Severance—from bold sans-serif fonts to minimalist maps and procedural documents—look like something pulled from a mid-century military manual. Once I was given the seed of possible Russian/Cold War theories, I immediately went into historical encyclopedia mode and thought about the lobby of Lumon. More secifically, the Eagan emblem in the Lumon lobby, with its chiseled, idealized features, even resembles Soviet murals of Lenin, reinforcing the idea of a leader whose presence is inescapable. The company’s branding feels like a mix of state-sponsored propaganda and corporate bureaucracy, evoking Cold War-era instructional materials designed to keep workers in line.
Vehicles, Infrastructure & Cold War Parallels
The boxy, utilitarian cars in Severance look like they belong to a government fleet from the 1950s-70s, commonly used in military and industrial settings. The location of Lumon, isolated and undefined, mirrors real-world Cold War-era missile sites and classified research facilities—places that often existed near bodies of water and were hidden under mundane corporate fronts.
Company Towns & Psychological Conditioning
Much like Cold War company towns built around defense contractors, the world outside Lumon feels like it exists only to support the corporation. The employees’ unwavering faith in Kier Eagan mirrors the cult of personality tactics used by Cold War leaders to inspire loyalty and obedience. The severance process itself? A form of extreme worker compartmentalization, not unlike Cold War intelligence operations that kept information siloed to maintain control.
Surveillance, Loyalty, and Fear
There’s an underlying paranoia in Severance—the fear of an unseen authority watching, of betrayers within, of stepping out of line. These themes echo Cold War-era McCarthyism and corporate espionage, where people were expected to demonstrate unwavering allegiance or face consequences. Lumon’s sterile, windowless offices aren’t just unsettling—they feel like a government installation designed to keep people disconnected from the outside world.
A Hidden Cold War Legacy?
Whether intentional or not, Severance is steeped in the visual and ideological echoes of the Cold War. Its design choices, from architecture to propaganda, reflect an era of control, secrecy, and corporate loyalty disguised as progress. Lumon could just as easily be a defense contractor from the 1960s as it is a modern tech company—because, in many ways, the two aren’t so different.
