How The Iconic Pokémon Logo Was Created
- Debi Bodett
- Nov 1, 2025
- 1 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
IGN details the creation of the iconic Pokémon logo. A Seattle designer received a last-minute request from Nintendo to develop a new logo in just one month. This involved numerous hand-drawn iterations and a surprising lack of initial direction from the client.
When you get a spontaneous call from the president of Nintendo of America, you don’t ask too many questions. You just take the call. Chris Maple was asked to create a new logo for Pokémon, which at the time existed only in Japan as Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green. Nintendo wanted to release the game in the West with a Blue version and, later, a Yellow Pikachu Edition. But the company wanted a new logo to reflect the rebrand from “Pocket Monsters” to “Pokémon” and was struggling to find someone who could nail the look. Maple wasn’t given any instructions on what Nintendo was looking for, though, he says. Just one parameter: he had just one month to make it.
Meet Chris Maple, a Seattle-based designer who unwittingly stumbled into creating one of the world's most iconic logos.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE by Rebekah Valentine of IGN.
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