Roundels

Roundels — Notes — Danny White

Published on: 2026-06-04

Monograms in Mexico (and Argentina).

I’m in Puebla, Mexico. Here’s a manhole cover design I see often around town:

A manhole cover in Puebla featuring a CFE monogram. Caption: .

A manhole cover with a CFE monogram in its centre
‘CFE’ presumedly stands for ‘Comisión Federal de Electricidad’.

It’s reminding me of my time in Argentina a few years ago. Monograms were slapped on everything; sporting clubs, social organisations, unions, infrastructure, modes of transport were amongst what I bothered to get on camera:

The monogram ATE, which stands for Asociación Trabajadores del Estado (State Workers’ Association)The monogram CAB, which stands for Club Atlético BelgranoThe monogram CATC, which stands for Club Atlético Central CórdobaThe monogram CARP, which stands for Club Atlético River PlateThe monogram CASLA, which stands for Club Atlético San Lorenzo de AlmagroThe monogram CGT, which stands for Confederación General del Trabajo (a trade union federation)The monogram GAS, which stands for Gas del EstadoThe monogram OSN, which stands for Obras Sanitarias de la Nación (national water and sanitation authority)The monogram SEThe monogram UOM, which stands for Unión Obrera Metalúrgica (metalworkers’ union)

These look great and reproduce well too, which makes me wonder why we don’t we see many circular monograms outside of Latin America. Or am I just blind to them?

The “software is eating the world” edict (sadly) states that the circular profile picture is the home base of modern visual identity, so by extension these things should be more prevalent. That’s a side-effect I could get behind.

P.S. have you heard about Japanese manhole covers?