Sesame Workshop Logo PNG
Over many years, the Sesame Workshop logo has changed repeatedly until it became a concise, clear image associated with a pleasant home atmosphere. How could it be otherwise if the channel’s goal is to promote family values, development, and good interpersonal relationships?
Sesame Workshop began with a 1966 observation by Lloyd Morrisett of Carnegie Corporation. He noticed how closely his young daughter watched television commercials and wondered whether the same short, bright format could teach preschool children. He shared the idea with Joan Ganz Cooney, a documentary producer at New York’s Channel 13, who then researched preschool education with funding from Carnegie.
On 20 May 1968, Cooney and Morrisett founded the nonprofit Children’s Television Workshop. Harvard professor Gerald Lesser helped develop its research method, later known as the CTW model, in which producers worked with educators and child development experts throughout the production process. Funding came from sources including the US Department of Education, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Ford Foundation.
Sesame Street premiered on National Educational Television on 10 November 1969. Its structure combined animation, live-action scenes, and puppet segments centered on letters, numbers, and social skills. Jim Henson’s Muppets, including Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, and Oscar the Grouch, became central after test screenings showed children responded strongly to them. The show used a multicultural cast and focused on children from lower-income urban families.
CTW later produced The Electric Company (1971), 3-2-1 Contact (1980), Square One TV (1987), and Ghostwriter (1992). Licensing helped stabilize finances by 1985-1986, while international versions spread through local partnerships. In 1999, CTW co-founded Noggin with MTV Networks, then sold its stake to Viacom in 2002. On 5 June 2000, it became the Sesame Workshop. In 2015, it partnered with HBO, and in 2020, Sesame Street moved to HBO Max, with PBS broadcasts delayed.
Meaning and History
The project started small, so it didn’t aim to create a personal logo. The founders only needed an impressive screensaver for the Sesame Street TV series it was created for. However, over time, the owners considered continuing the program and expanding the list of broadcasts that required an entire TV channel. This fact explains the emblem’s later appearance: the company was established in 1968, and the logo appeared in 1969. The studio was formerly known as the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW). The studio adopted its current name in the summer of 2000, after which management redesigned the emblem.
What is Sesame Workshop?
Sesame Workshop is a nonprofit organization that owns the eponymous television channel, which airs children’s educational programs. Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett founded it in 1968 after spending two years studying how preschoolers learn, their psychology, and how they assimilate knowledge. Their painstaking work produced the TV series Sesame Street, for which they created their own thematic channel. Its headquarters are located in New York.
1969 – 1983
Although the logo is text-based and consists of the organization’s name, it is backed by an amazing bas-relief in an old-fashioned style. It’s used to confirm that this workshop carries out manual labor, producing a unique product with no analogs. The simple inscription, stylized as a child’s wall “painting,” testifies to the project’s playful nature. The letters look as though they were painted on a fence with a brush, as the uneven lines, carelessness, and streaks confirm. Yet, the architectural element looks very solid. It takes the form of a horizontal scroll, behind which a human (at the top) and an animal (at the bottom) peek out.
1975 – 1978
In this version of visual identity, text predominates. The inscription is made in an old-fashioned calligraphic font. The glyphs’ curves and elongated legs add a personal, magical touch. The letters are unconnected, black, and thin, and are lowercase except for the first symbols, which remain capital by grammar rules.
1978 – 1983
This symbol is a modernized abbreviation of the TV channel’s name. It looks like a monogram composed of the lowercase letters “c,” “t,” and “w.” The first letter is set on a diagonal; the second and third are horizontal. All glyphs are massive, super bold, geometric, and black. They have straight lines, precise angles, and smooth edges. This creates a serious atmosphere for the educational TV channel.
1983 – 1997
The word “logo” is set in a three-level uppercase inscription. The title is set in an original font and is aligned on both sides. The letters form a harmonious mix of smooth curves and balanced angles. The top comma is teardrop-shaped; the “E” resembles a Ukrainian “Є”; and the “W” overlaps the neighboring “O.” Milton Glaser created this emblem.
1997 – 2000
The media organization’s leadership decided to return to a cheerful, relaxed children’s style. They chose a bright emblem with a double-framed semicircle. In the center of the yellow background is the abbreviation “CTW.” The red letters are outlined in black. They are semi-bold, uppercase, and sans-serif. Above the composition, the TV channel’s full name appears in a semicircle in thin glyphs. The agency Pittard Sullivan and the design studio Pentagram created this idea. Created this idea
1999
The logo appears as an inscription styled like children’s doodles, laid out by an uncertain hand on a white sheet. It reads “CTW family workshop,” indicating that educational programs now have a family-oriented aspect to broaden their audience. The abbreviation is carrot-red, while the rest is black.
2000 – 2007
In 2000, the media company took a significant step: it adopted its current name. In the new logo, it is written as a single word on a single line. To differentiate the two words, they are colored differently: “sesame” in green and “workshop” in blue. Above them is a geometrically disproportionate house, as if drawn by a small child. This is how the designers visualized “family.” To suggest a future genius grows within these walls, they added a yellow star with a zigzag tail.
2007 – 2018
The house and star disappeared from the logo. The primary focus is now on the words “sesameworkshop,” written in lowercase letters and colored in two shades of green.
2018 – today
The emblem resembles the Sesame Street sign, where Sesame Workshop began. The text is split into two lines and set between two lines: a straight bottom line and a convex top line.
Font and Colors
The Sesame Street logos use various fonts, including Busorama, Interstate Bold, Helvetica, and DIN Round Pro Bold. The color palette is also diverse: black, red, blue, gray, yellow, and various shades of green.