Monograms are a form of design that has been around since approximately 350BC. The first monogram was presented on coins. Monograms are described as the common use of initials, consisting of 2 or more letters, these letters are usually joint or intertwined. Monograms have developed over the years and are now commonly used in branding, symbolisation and design.
Monogram 1: Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club monogram (AFL) was first created in the 1950s. This monogram is iconic throughout the football society and can be recognised through generations. The original logo presents an interconnecting type with an upper case C, in place for Carlton, the F threaded lengthways for Football, and the smaller C representing Club. The typeface definitely reflects its age and style with the curvature of the stroke. The typeface definitely reflects its age and style with the curvature of the stroke. The white type is enclosed with navy blue or simply just as it.
The visual aspects include CFC in different typefaces throughout time. This logo demonstrates a basic monogram, although changing over time has kept a very simple design to retain the popularity it gets from society. The monogram can be recognised as a vintage-style logo with the use of block and cursive type. This style is most likely due to the technology available during that time.
Monogram 2: HP
HP is a tecnology company that was founded by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard in 1939. The HP monogram is simply a sans-serif typeface, blue enclosure with white type. HP stands for Hewlett-Packard in regards to the founders but the brand is purely known as HP globally. The monogram is simple but has strongly been developed as a timeless design. The blue circle inclosure with the white lowercase, italic HP. the top oh the ‘h’ breaks the top of the enclosure and the stem of the ‘p’ breaking the bottom.
The HP monogram has kept its style almost the same throughout its existance. The only changes coming from colours and some differences with the enclosures used. Although no being able to find the exact typeface used for the monogram a similar font to Laural Hardy Narrow Italic type.
Monogram 3: Chanel
The Chanel monogram is the perfect example of a contemporary brand logo. Simply, it has not changed. This reflects the practice of monograms over time, that if it is created right, they can be timeless. Chanel challenges the idea of monograms changing over time. The Chanel logo has been used for its branding since 1910, for over 100 years and the monogram is still iconic and visually recognised globally.
The monogram is visualised as 2 C’s overlapping eachother, one being reversed. The typeface of the logo is set to actually be an adaptation of Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel’s handwriting. This brand mark is primarily seen in black colouring, the only other times you see variations is on products where it can be found in gold, white, silver or even embroidered into the inner lining of their bags. This logo mark is one of the more effective uses of monograms as it has continued to maintain its popularity, following the brand through the years this marking is displayed on almost all the ‘Chanel’ clothing, bags, glasses, jewllery etc. The simple use of the sans-shief type and simple design has allowed this to continue over all they years.
The VS Monogram:
Going int designing my own monogram, I struggled to determine ways that I would be able to create something different using the letters of my name,VS (Victoria Saros). The first thing that comes to anyone’s mind when seeing those letter is almost always, Victoria’s Secret.
The company founded in 1977, incorporated it’s logo almost instantly, and although created some alternative uses of colour and additional writing to follow the brand, the monogram itself has never changed. This is big shoes to fill.
I experimented with a few different styles but having to create a monogram that also reflected my personality was a bit difficult as I wasnt quite sure which direction I was going to be able to take the initials. I even ventured into letter TS (Tori Saros) to see if something could be created from there. After countless handdrawn designs, I took to Adobe Illustrator to visualise my visions digitally.
Through my research, it made me want to create and build from the idea of a timeless design, keeping it simple with a unique design. The aim of the monogram was to represent my personality. Utilising the pen tool to free hand draw the outline – the monogram is continuous loop starting from the edge of the V to the bottom curve of the S. Although a specific typeface wasnt used the design replicates a bubbled sans-serif type.
Reference list
CHANEL 2019, http://www.facebook.com.
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Logopedia n.d., Carlton Football Club, Logopedia, viewed 16 June 2022, <https://logos.fandom.com/wiki/Carlton_Football_Club>.
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