The Art. Lebedev design studio has unveiled what it says is the new official logo of the Moscow metro system.
A picture of the new logo — a sharp-edged red letter "M" — appeared online Tuesday morning, and was described by designers as "expressive, modern and universal."
The studio said on its website it had dived into the metro logo's history to come up with a modern concept of the capital's ubiquitous "M."
In the studio's own words, the result of that research has led to a new logo that "looks as if it never changed."
The studio, which was previously tasked with designing a new map of the metro system, was not asked to produce the logo but came up with the idea on its own initiative, a spokesman for the city's transport department told news site Gazeta.ru.
Its unveiling comes as the department announced it is planning a five-year rebranding of the city's transport system in collaboration with advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi.
"There is a need to generate awareness of a unified system of public transport and make it more attractive [to passengers]" the agency said in an online statement published Wednesday.
