STM·Société de transport Montréal

When I think of Montreal type, I immediately think of the metro because it's my daily interaction with a font associated with the city.

The STM's font was custom-made by Joancarles Casasin for Sid Lee.

The transition between the old logo to the new one in 2011, results in a more solid branding and global cohesiveness, from metro to bus to ad campaigns.

 From this,

to this:

This new style is more in tune with trends of sans-serif, minimalist, rounded geometric type, as seen with hundreds of new logos such as Google (2015), Uber (2018), Airbnb (2014), etc. You could say it was even ahead of its time by a few years!

The use of colour is also instrumental in the message. Blue is the colour of the wagons, yellow signifies the people and the colour they create together is green, communicating the eco-friendly vision of the transportation system. The blue and yellow are often juxtaposed as arrows, symbolizing the people and the metro coming together to move forward in a 'green', eco-conscious way. 

The typeface lends a more friendly appeal to the STM. The rounded letters, more relaxed sans-serif quality and the continuous presence of the branding makes the transportation system seem more playful, engaged and caring.

In terms of inspiring my work, I think they've succeeded with this design in terms of communicating a message that is bold, cohesive and persistent. It's not my favourite aesthetically as it does have to appeal to the masses and retain a more approachable image, but I admire the way they've framed the idea of the STM in our minds using friendly design, colours and imagery.