National Grid plc is a British multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London. Its visual identity has evolved from a symbol-based mark designed by a prominent British designer to a streamlined lowercase wordmark that unifies the company’s operations across the UK and the US.
Design and History
The original National Grid logo was designed by John McConnell of Pentagram in 1989 and launched in 1990, the same year the company was formed following the privatisation of the UK electricity industry. The mark featured a stylised electricity pylon and power lines, a design that was described as expressing “the very nature of the organisation in a serious, authoritative, yet visually dynamic way.”[1][2]
In 1998, The National Grid Company appointed the consultancy Fishburn Hedges to rationalise its visual identity and produce usage guidelines. The existing Pentagram identity remained the basis of the project, with work focused on letter-spacing, positioning, tagline and consistency of use rather than a full redesign.[3][4]
In 2020, National Grid introduced an updated logo that emphasised the company’s intention to unite its British and North American businesses under a common visual style. The new identity uses a joined lowercase wordmark, “nationalgrid,” replacing the earlier pylon symbol.[5]
Meaning and Symbolism
The original 1990 pylon logo directly referenced the electricity transmission infrastructure that National Grid operates. The pylon symbol was described as an objective, descriptive illustration of the power industry’s infrastructure.[6] By 2011, however, critics noted that the pylon logo “of a decade ago cannot represent the real benefits that National Grid brings to us in today’s world,” pointing toward the need for a broader identity covering both electricity and gas.[4]
Typography and Design
The current National Grid wordmark is set in lowercase sans-serif lettering, with the name rendered as a single joined word, “nationalgrid.” The logo is predominantly blue, with digital colour values close to #0072CE.[5] The wordmark approach places the brand name at the centre of the identity, allowing the lettering itself to carry the visual distinction across applications.
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