The CANADIAN DESIGN RESOURCE - Montréal Expo’s Logo

Beautiful to look at but confusing if you are not French Canadian. The breakdown is that the “e” for “Expos, a stylized “M” is for Montreal and the “b” for baseball. It is unique in sports logos because it includes “baseball” in the title. No other team, in any sport has done this. This must be a Quebec thing because the Montreal Canadians do this as well (the “H” stands for hockey). The Expos team name came from the World Exposition Fair, which was held in Montreal, PQ in 1967.

Designer
Stewart & Morrison
Client
Montreal Expo Baseball
Year
1969
Categories
Logo / Sport / Typography

Thanks for helping us make the CDR better.

14 comments — Leave a Comment

Frankus May 10th 2006
The “H” in the Montreal Canadiens logo stands for “Habitant”; hence the nickname the “Habs”.
admin May 10th 2006
Where design meets hockey lore!… Apparently the nickname Habs does come from Habitant, but the C and the H actually stand for Club de Hockey Canadien.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitants

-Michael
john russell May 15th 2006
I thought CH stood for Centre Hice –> to remind them where
to go after a goal… if they forgot, they were told to match
their jersey with the logo on the Hice eh!
aj kandy June 19th 2006
You know, I’ve never seen an “M” in the Expos logo. I can’t help but see “ELB”, and it never made sense!
Brad August 17th 2006
What do you mean ‘it includes “baseball” in the title’? This logo has a title? Or do you mean that the word “baseball” is somewhere hidden in the logo? Can you tell me where?
Ahmnodt Heare January 31st 2009
It’s similar to the Hartford Whaler logo. The “H”, the “W” underneath it, and the whale tail.
Nottarg May 31st 2009
There’s a “L” too (the white spot) so it can make MLB. It’s not official, I’ve figured that out myself :P
Jerome Lapointe November 25th 2009
CH is for Canadien Habitant. The logo is indeed very different from typical sports logo but I really don’t see how you need to be french canadian to get that… and no, including the first letter of the sport in the logo is not a “quebec thing”.

Canadien Habitant… refers to “french canadians”… originally the team was founded in a context where the promoter was forming teams of “irish men”, scotts, etc… very “racially based”, and he wanted a team of french canadians. That team survived and the name is a throwback to that era.

“French Canadians” went through a series of evolutions in terms of identity. After the conquest… the local population was known as Canadiens (and that was considered seperate from Acadiens). The anglophones were british subjects and they referred to themselves as such. Canadiens were defined by language and religion… crossborders, including those living across Canada the US. With imigration to canada… eventually people needed to identify themselves as Canadians and more precision became needed. Terms like Canadien Habitant or French Canadian evolved. As religion took a back seat and media networks started forming up… the french canadians of quebec felt less and less tied to those from Canada and the US and pretty much refer to themselves as Quebequois, or Quebeckers.
Michael Erdmann November 25th 2009
Hi Jerome,
Thanks for your thoughts about the Montreal Canadiens logo … though there seems to be a lot of evidence to the contrary:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Canadiens
http://proicehockey.about.com/od/history/f/canadiens_habs.htm
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=370513
http://canadiens.nhl.com/club/page.htm?bcid=eng_leg_privacy
pete fodey January 5th 2010
People criticize everything about the Expos – their stadium, their
fans, their logo, etc… I think this logo is a masterpiece of graphic
design. The “e” for Expos, the “b” for baseball, both contained
within the overall “M” for Montreal. Outstanding – certainly better
than those morons in Washington.
Alec January 22nd 2010
Can’t say I understand what being French Canadian has to do with understanding the logo. Thanks for the info on the legacy of the Habs, I’ve loved the bilingualism of the team throughout its history and consider it a great example that that can exist and be great together.
Page January 22nd 2010
Anyone who doesn’t immediately see M,e,b in the Expos logo should be declared legally blind (and possibly brain dead)
Nikiaf January 21st 2011
The H in the canadiens logo does NOT stand for habitant. It stands for hockey. The official name of the team is le club hockey canadien, hence the C and the H

Categories Years

Montréal Expo’s Logo

14 comments — Leave a Comment