Grameenphone (GP) is the largest telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh boasting 74 million subscribers and over 46% subscriber market share (as of 2019).
GP is a joint venture between the Norwegian telephone company Telenor and Grameen Telecom Corporation. While the original Grameenphone logo was unique for the brand, the second version already copied the logo of its parent company Telenor.
Grameenphone started operations in 1997. The logo showcased the red cellphone placed over the side view of two human faces (first, a female face in white, then a male face in green). You could also see stylized arches in red and green, which represented the signals through which mobile phones are connected.
The combination of the colors – red and green – was inspired by the Flag of Bangladesh.
The company officially replaced the emblem on its logo with that of its parent company Telenor. On the one hand, this meant the loss of a human and romantic touch, which came from the depiction of the two faces. Also, it meant the loss of the individual and local style (note, for instance, the decorative red dot on the woman’s face).
On a more positive note, the blue “drops” on the Telenor’s emblem had a by far more modern and professional style. Also, they better represented the modern view of telecommunications.
To match the minimalist emblem, the brand also introduced a new wordmark in black. It featured a simple sans serif type with very light lowercased letters (the same style as the Telenor wordmark).
In addition to the Grameenphone logo in English, there was also a version in Bengali (the official and national language of Bangladesh).