Sesame Street Logo PNG
Millions of viewers know the Sesame Street logo, and broadcasters worldwide have become interested in the project, including in countries such as Kosovo, Afghanistan, and South Africa. They began to buy rights to film and broadcast adapted international versions of the program.
Sesame Street is considered one of the longest-running TV series for a reason. It debuted in the US in 1969 and has been on television ever since, instilling basic life skills and a love of learning in children. Pop culture parodies and humor attract older audiences. This is probably why the show has remained viable despite changes in the media landscape over the past 50 years.
Lloyd Morrisett and Joan Ganz Cooney created Sesame Street. Once at dinner, they discussed the problems of preschool education caused by the poverty of many American families, primarily blacks. In 1966, amid social inequality, not all parents could prepare their children for school. But amid the struggle for social rights, it was important to give every child the opportunity to learn, even if they lived in a disadvantaged area.
To address the educational deficit, Morrisett and Cooney decided to produce a show that combined elements of play and learning. They brought in a wide variety of specialists and created the Children’s Television Workshop, later renamed the Sesame Workshop. Speaking against racism, poverty, and inequality, the co-authors of the program showed an example of a harmonious society where white and black people became friendly neighbors. For the first time in American television history, African Americans were presented not as marginal but as positive characters.
All this was aimed at boosting the self-esteem of black children who, due to poverty, could not afford to prepare for school. But the show proved so interesting that it caught the attention of even those who did not live in disadvantaged areas.
Meaning and History
As the show’s popularity grew, Sesame Workshop, which owns the show’s rights, began marketing Sesame Street overseas and licensed the TV show’s logo for use on merchandise and toys.
For more than 50 years, this symbol has hardly changed: on the day of the first episode’s premiere, it contained the inscription “SESAME STREET,” stylized as an address sign. By the way, the name for the educational project was chosen at the very last moment. At first, the show’s co-authors were inclined toward another option: 123 Avenue B. But that address exists in a bohemian residential area in Manhattan. However, a reference to him was preserved in the series’ logo: the house number “123” appears above the name “Sesame Street”.
What is Sesame Street?
Sesame Street is an educational program designed for preschool children. The non-profit company Sesame Workshop created it and earns money not from advertising but from royalties and toy sales. The show combines elements of comedy, puppetry, and animation. Each episode is a sketch in which a specific plot is played out with the participation of both permanent and temporary characters.
1969 – 1997
The authors of the first logo played with the training show’s name, depicting it on a kind of address plate. The phrase “SESAME STREET” appeared in white capital letters inside a light green rectangle with rounded corners.
At the top of the quadrangular figure, a centered semicircular ledge rose. It also featured another white inscription: the abbreviation “CTW,” arched by the designers. This was the abbreviated name of the Children’s Television Workshop, which produces television content for preschoolers and schoolchildren. She owns the rights to the Sesame Street brand.
The same bold sans-serif was used for all the words, but the abbreviation was modified. To break up the monotonous palette, the designers placed the rectangle in a thick yellow frame and encircled the semicircular ledge with a wide stripe of the same color. At the same time, the base added one more contour: a thin, inseparable green line.
1997 – 2000
In 1997, the logo changed without altering the overall concept. First of all, they touched on the font: instead of the old grotesque with bold letters, a new, more elegant version was adopted. It was Franklin Gothic Bold Condensed. The developers decided not to convert the inscription to lowercase to preserve the association with the street sign. The developers aligned the abbreviation “CTW” horizontally.
The green took on a pronounced blue tint, turning light turquoise. The yellow frame has thin black outlines on both sides. The base shape was also slightly corrected: the upper ledge became an almost perfect semicircle. This logo first appeared in the show in 1998, in episode #3786.
2000 – 2015
Since the production company Children’s Television Workshop was renamed Sesame Workshop, the acronym “CTW” has become obsolete. The logo removed it and replaced it with a simple combination of numbers: “123”. This was a reference to the name “123 Avenue B”, which the authors of Sesame Street originally wanted to give their educational project. The font of the inscriptions has not changed, and the colors have become a little lighter.
2015 – today
In 2015, the main children’s show logo was redesigned again. The current version features a slightly different color scheme. Now, shades of green and yellow are brighter than before. The thin black lines have disappeared, so for the first time in many years, the design is closer to the original, with no dark outlines.
Font and Colors
The edutainment show uses a wordmark that reads “SESAME STREET.” The name came from Virginia Schone, who works in a kindergarten. She drew an analogy with the famous phrase “Open Sesame” from the Arabian tales One Thousand and One Nights. That is, the television series is compared to a precious cache that is hidden behind a secret door.
To play with the name and emphasize that the street scenes are an important part of the show, the designers stylized the wordmark to look like a classic address sign found in any city. It was made colorful to attract attention because the television program is designed for preschool and primary school viewers. It takes the target audience’s psychology into account.
Since 1997, the Sesame Street logo has been written in Franklin Gothic Bold Condensed. American typographer Morris Fuller Benton developed this sans-serif typeface between 1903 and 1912. It has retained its personality and is often used to draw attention, such as in advertisements or headlines. The font serves a similar function in the emblem of an educational children’s television show.
The colors were also chosen to be noticed. The designers combined bright shades of green and yellow, with white letters for contrast. The black lines have disappeared since the 2015 logo update.