NPR Logo

NPR Logo PNG

Although the NPR logo has always been built around the three letters of the radio network’s name, each emblem has been different due to the choice of the key design theme, font, and color palette.

Meaning and history

NPR is the largest nonprofit organization that collects and then distributes news from more than a thousand radio stations across the United States.
NPR was founded on February 26, 1970, as a replacement for the National Educational Radio Network. It first aired in April 1971 with a broadcast of a Senate hearing on the Vietnam War.

What is NPR?
NPR is an abbreviation, standing for the National Public Radio, a non-profit organization, which was established in the United States in 1971. Today the NPR association has over a thousand members, all of which are American public radio stations.

1971 – 1983

The earliest NPR logotype was introduced in 1971. That was the year when National Public Radio replaced the National Educational Radio Network and NPR was actually born. The logo looked unique and stylish due to the combination of the unusual typeface and the image. It consisted of a stylized depiction of a microphone and the name of the company given in a sleek lowercase typeface.

1983 – 1997

From 1983 to 1997 the radio network used a completely different symbol. Its main advantage was probably the fact that the idea of radio waves was now visualized creating a better link between the logo and the field where the company worked. However, the letters did not look clean and clear, so the name of the company was not easily legible.
As if to make the matters worse, the authors decided to “decipher” each of the letters, thus making the logotype unsuitable for smaller surfaces.

1998 – Today

In 1998 the radio network adopted a completely new emblem, which has been in use ever since. The logo is comprised of three squares in a row, each housing a letter (“n”, “r”, and “p”).

Font and Color

The modest yet stable lowercase lettering from the primary NPR badge is set in a bold and neat sans-serif typeface with the traditional contours of the letters. The closest fonts to the one, used in this insignia, are, probably, Banjax Medium, or Ministry Medium, with some almost invisible modifications of the contours.
As for the color palette of the National Public Radio visual identity, it is based on a combination of red; black, and blue, with white as an additional color, adding freshness and a touch of trustworthiness and reliability. Black and red here are colors of confidence and professionalism, while blue is for responsibility and expertise.
Simple and clean, the typeface featured in the National Public Radio logo is still visually appealing. Each letter of the sans-serif lowercase type reads perfectly. The similarity of the upper curves of the “n”, “r”, and “p” creates a visual link between the letters.