The city adopted its official logo and visual identification program in 1981 and the mandate to create them was awarded to the graphic design firm Georges Huel et Associés Inc. The logo was created to show the city’s dynamism and to promote communication with Montréalers as well as its image on the national and international scenes. The emblem, which takes its inspiration from the city’s coat of arms, is a minimalist logo that is shaped like a flower, in which each petal forms the letters V and M, the initials for ‘Ville de Montréal’. The intersecting lines at the centre of the logo symbolize the city’s vocation as a crossroads of communication and civilization. The four heart-shaped petals signify the deep attachment Montréalers have to their city. An undulating line encircles the whole, representing the island, while the intertwining of plant and aquatic symbolism expresses the wealth of Montréal’s natural environment and the care Montréalers take to preserve it. [Source: City of Montreal](http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=127,302044&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL)