San Francisco’s Muni transportation system has the best logo I’ve seen of any transit agency in the world.
The iconic logo, locally known as “The Worm”, was born in the 1970s. The logo was designed by Walter Landor and launched in 1975. Its colors and glowing sun background are very iconic of the decade.
Visually and conceptually, the worm is an example of perfect graphic design.
When you first glance at it, you’re struck just by the visual form. The dense, flowing lines suggest the streets of a city.
More specifically, the up-and-down movements of the logo capture the twisting paths of Lombard Street, one of San Francisco’s most iconic throughways.
It’s only when you look closer that you start to realize that the Muni logo isn’t just a pretty graphic; the gyrations of the logo’s lines spell out the letters MUNI.
I’ve lived in the Bay Area for 10+ years, and it honestly took me a decade to realize that the Muni logo spelled out MUNI!
Landor went on to design logos for giant companies like Coca-Cola and Federal Express. That’s quite a pedigree.
In 1999, there was a debate over whether to ditch the worm logo and move to the much more mundane SF Municipal Transport Agency (SFMTA) logo.
After much public outcry, Muni chose to keep their iconic worm and resist the urge to rebrand. Some parts of the agency do use variations of their original logo, which goes all the way back to the early 1900s.
Almost 50 years later, though, the worm is still the official logo of Muni.
It’s just as beautiful and iconic as it was when it first came out. We hope they never scrap it!
