10 lovely monograms
A few creative monograms for your enjoyment.
Canadian National Railway
Designed by Allan Fleming, in 1960.
conEdison
Designed by Arnell Group, in 2000. conEdison is a US-based electricity supplier.
Frost & Reed
Designed by Atelier Works, in 2006. Frost & Reed is a UK-based fine art dealer.
National Theatre
More info on the designer and year in this comment.
Newspaper Marketing Agency
Designed by SomeOne, in 2000.
University College for the Creative Arts
Designed by Blast, in 2005.
London Symphony Orchestra
Designed by The Partners, in 2001.
Rabih Hage
Designed by Hat-Trick, in 2002. Rabih Hage is a UK-based interior designer.
Victoria & Albert Museum
Designed by Alan Fletcher, in 1989.
Formula 1
Designed by Carter Wong Tomlin, in 1994.
Logo removed after I was contacted by NetResult, telling me I was in breach of FOA (Formula One Administration) copyright. To view the Formula 1 logo again, here’s the Google image search results for Formula One logo.
What’s your favourite monogram?
53 appreciated comments, click here to add one
Tammy Lenski
Very cool new site, David! I enjoyed wandering around and will be back.
Best for the new venture,
Tammy
Jan 25th, 2008
Dan Cole
Nice, I’ve always loved the F1 racing logo. It just might be my favorite logo of all time, even though it doesn’t have much to it.
Jan 25th, 2008
David Airey
Tammy, thanks for the well-wishes. I’ve been thinking about this launch for some time, finally pulled the finger out.
Dan, some others that make good use of negative space.
Jan 25th, 2008
Simon
I’ll second the shout for the F1 logo. It’s probably the smartest monogram design out there. Although it is starting to look a bit dated, I’d like to see a revised version based on the current, very clever, monogram design.
Great new site by the way David.
Jan 25th, 2008
Brian
Hi David, nice new blog!
My favorite (“favourite” for you Brits! – sorry) in that list is probably the USA network logo. Just simple yet perfectly done.
Another one of my favorites has got to the FedEx Logo…I am sad to say that I only discovered the arrow about 3 years ago.
Looking forward to enjoying many of your posts on the new blog!
Cheers.
Jan 25th, 2008
Zaigham
Nice site David….
Thanks for sharing such a nice post.
regards.
Jan 27th, 2008
David Airey
Simon, something for you to have a crack at?
Brian, glad you like the blog. Fedex isn’t a monogram. Great design, though.
Jan 28th, 2008
Erick
Great Collection. I really like the NMA logo.
However, I don’t really get the LSO logo choice. Without knowing that its a monogram, it could easily be conceived as a drawing of some kind (sperm came to mind).
Jan 30th, 2008
Beth Ellen
Way to go on the new site David. Another excellent one to add to my reader!
Jan 31st, 2008
Lloyd
the rh and the FR seemed forced.
Jan 31st, 2008
David Airey
Erick, I wonder what’s on your mind?
Beth Ellen, that’s great you’ll subscribe. Glad to have you as a reader.
Feb 3rd, 2008
knaknak
Cool Blog!
I’ve always been a fan of the F1 logo, it screams “fast”
I also think the LSO logo is awesome – very fluidic and symphony IMO.
Feb 6th, 2008
Grouse
The Victoria and Albert logo has to be the best! I’ve been seeing it around alot lately and I just think it’s perfect. So simple yet unique! Which is your favourite David?
Feb 11th, 2008
Roberta Seldon
My favorites… conEdison, Newspaper Marketing Agency, and Victoria & Albert Museum. The ‘NT’ in National Theatre is too military-ish to me, not something you would expect to see in a theatre logo.
Mar 24th, 2008
David Airey
Hi Roberta,
Those three you mention would probably be my three top choices too. Thanks for commenting.
Mar 24th, 2008
Roberta Seldon
Thanks David.
Mar 24th, 2008
Toby
I’ve seen the LSO logo loads of times and only recently realised that it looks like a conductor! Love it!
Apr 29th, 2008
rob russo
Of these I like Newspaper Marketing Agency (NMA) and London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). I love how LSO looks like a conductor’s wand in action…
Of course, though not as well known, you could include my personal mark here, eh? :-)
May 5th, 2008
David Airey
Hi Rob, purely coincidence that your last blog post is titled “shameless self promotion?” ;)
May 7th, 2008
rob russo
Absolutely coincidental! ;)
Actually, you know that my last post was just in response to Brian’s Business Cards of Bloggers request. And while I’m REALLY trying to tell myself to update more, my current post may be there for a bit.
I’m new at blogging, but still think it is interesting that I found Brian’s post from a link on Jacob Cass’ site. And I found Jacob thru this site while participating in your recent Logo Design Love Awards. I was just honored to be included in the running.
Thanks again for all you do. Keep up the great work!
May 7th, 2008
David Airey
You’re very welcome, and thanks for stopping by. Great to include you as a reader.
May 16th, 2008
Jane
The LSO conductor is genius. I love it.
May 30th, 2008
Frank White
On the plus side I absolutely love the Victoria & Albert Museum logo…simple, classic and timeless. I feel the same way about University College for the Creative Arts logo. On the flip side I just dont get the London Symphony logo. I guess opinions are subjective though
Jul 18th, 2008
ram
David,
Really I am impressed seeing your new website, its really useful.
I will also add some of your post and link back to this website. Is it ok?
thanks
ram
Sep 14th, 2008
David Airey
Frank, there’ll always be a level of subjectiveness about design.
Ram, no need to ask, thanks very much.
Sep 14th, 2008
pat taylor
The best of the group would be Mr. Fletcher’s V&A
Oct 3rd, 2008
scott mcclelland
I am a big fan of the Roger Federer logo. The Frost and Reed logo reminded me of it.
Oct 14th, 2008
Jordan
Great collection, thanks!! I recently found this one, I think it`s worth a look too – http://zka11.com/files/scty27.jpg
Dec 11th, 2008
eddy
Check out the logo for the Swedish Radio:
http://www.sr.se/
Jan 3rd, 2009
Peter
The London Symphony Orchestra – Logo is brilliant! It’s the LSO, a conductor and some people even say it resembles the river thames :-D
Jan 5th, 2009
felipe.lv
I can’t believe the stupid reaction of NetResult/FOA… some people just can’t understand “the internets”
Jan 8th, 2009
rik
Nice post.
Take a look at the NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen = Dutch Railroads) logo. It is one of my favorites for a long time. Both a monogram and a symbolic representation of tracks at the same time.
http://www.ns.nl
Jun 22nd, 2009
David Airey
Jordan,
That is a nice ambigram, and I’ve featured a few others here:
Inspiring ambigram logos
Rik, great addition.
Jun 30th, 2009
Chris
I realize this is pretty old, but I only recently found this blog so I’m sort of catching up, I think the formula one logo works even better in B+W than it does with the red, suddenly the 1 (the white space) jumps out at you a lot better, whereas with the red I automatically see the red part as a 1… or is it just me?
Oct 29th, 2009
Shabbir Hussain
Nice ones David. Is it possible CNN was derived for Canadian National Railway.
Dec 2nd, 2009
Alex
I think that the ESPN logo is a very good example of a monogram logo.
Feb 26th, 2010
Alex
Also, I think VW (Volkswagen) is a good example.
Feb 26th, 2010
Ian Dennis
Actually number 4 wasn’t designed by FHK Henrion!
And the year was 1974.
Here’s a link: http://www.davidthedesigner.com/davidthedesigner/2007/09/so-maybe-peter-.html
Love from Ian Dennis
Mar 30th, 2010
David Airey
Thanks for keeping me right, Ian. Updated.
Apr 1st, 2010
Niall
I love the logo of the loft book shop in Dublin http://theloftbookshop.com/
Aug 17th, 2011
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