BG Group plc was a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Reading, United Kingdom. The company was created in 1997 when British Gas plc divested Centrica and became BG plc, which was reorganised in 1999 as BG Group plc.[1] The BG Group identity was designed by Uffindell & West, with the distinctive “Bg” mark drawn by David Quay and Freda Sack of the type foundry Quay & Sack.[2][1]
Design and History
The BG mark was created in 1996, ahead of the 1997 demerger of British Gas into BG plc and Centrica plc.[1][2] The identity was designed by Uffindell & West, and the logo itself was drawn by David Quay and Freda Sack, whose digital files for the mark are dated 1996.[1] Both Centrica and BG continued to use the British Gas name and marque, which had last been redesigned by Coley Porter Bell in 1994.[2]
The logo is a heavy uppercase “B” with the lowercase “g” of Gill Sans used as its counter, the enclosed space within the “B”. The lower bowl of the Gill Sans “g” was rotated slightly to match the contours of the “B”.[1] The mark was rendered in orange, with the “g” appearing in white within the orange “B” form.[3]
In 2016, Royal Dutch Shell completed its $53 billion acquisition of BG Group. Signs at BG’s headquarters in Reading were replaced by Shell’s red-and-orange logo over the weekend before the deal was sealed.[4]
Typography and Design
Various typefaces supported the “Bg” mark over the years. The identity initially used a custom font, but settled on TheSans in the early 2000s. TheSans and its numerals played a significant role in BG Group’s reports and infographics.[1]
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