M1 Reimagined: Reviving a Cultural Icon Through Design

Launched in 1989 with Queen’s “Radio GaGa” as its first track, M1 is Lithuania’s first commercial music radio station and one of the most influential media brands in the country’s cultural history. For decades, it shaped youth culture, defined national pop trends, and expanded its presence beyond broadcasting through live events and bold public activations. By 2025, however, global streaming platforms had reshaped how audiences—especially younger generations—engage with music, and radio had lost much of its cultural centrality. It was within this context that andstudio, a creative agency based in Vilnius, was commissioned to reimagine M1’s identity and restore its relevance for a contemporary audience.

The rebrand emerged from the need to reconnect the station with the present while reclaiming the iconic status it once held. Alongside broader cultural shifts, M1 was also facing an internal challenge: its three main channels—M1, M1+ and M1 Dance—operated with fragmented visual systems, each relying on different logos and stylistic approaches. This lack of cohesion weakened brand recognition and made it difficult for the station to present itself as a unified, modern platform across broadcast, digital media and live experiences.

andstudio approached the project by looking back to M1’s origins and reactivating the spirit of its 1989 “golden age.” Rather than abandoning the past, the studio refined the original logo, a symbol still deeply rooted in collective memory, adjusting its proportions and sharpening its colour palette to meet contemporary standards. From the logo’s angular geometry, a custom alphabet was developed, giving M1 a distinctive typographic voice that runs consistently through headlines, programme titles and communications.

Within this renewed system, each sub-brand was clearly repositioned while remaining part of a single, coherent identity. M1 expresses bold contemporaneity through a vibrant blue, M1+ adopts black to reflect its focus on timeless classics, and M1 Dance uses pink to convey energy, rhythm and movement. Together, these elements create an identity that is both unified and flexible, capable of adapting to different contexts while maintaining strong recognition.

The result is a visual language that honours M1’s cultural heritage while projecting it confidently into the present. The new identity allows the brand to function not only as a radio station, but as a broader cultural platform, designed to live seamlessly across on-air graphics, digital interfaces, social media and large-scale live events. Through this rebrand, M1 reclaims its relevance, translating decades of influence into a contemporary, digitally fluent expression.

The project features photography by Vincas Čygas and a custom typeface designed by Mykolas Saulytis. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, andstudio is recognized for its strategic, innovative and bold approach to design, working across brand development, visual storytelling, typography, UX/UI and web design to craft identities and digital experiences with precision, clarity and strong conceptual depth.

M1 Reimagined: Reviving a Cultural Icon Through Design

Launched in 1989 with Queen’s “Radio GaGa” as its first track, M1 is Lithuania’s first commercial music radio station and one of the most influential media brands in the country’s cultural history. For decades, it shaped youth culture, defined national pop trends, and expanded its presence beyond broadcasting through live events and bold public activations. By 2025, however, global streaming platforms had reshaped how audiences—especially younger generations—engage with music, and radio had lost much of its cultural centrality. It was within this context that andstudio, a creative agency based in Vilnius, was commissioned to reimagine M1’s identity and restore its relevance for a contemporary audience.

The rebrand emerged from the need to reconnect the station with the present while reclaiming the iconic status it once held. Alongside broader cultural shifts, M1 was also facing an internal challenge: its three main channels—M1, M1+ and M1 Dance—operated with fragmented visual systems, each relying on different logos and stylistic approaches. This lack of cohesion weakened brand recognition and made it difficult for the station to present itself as a unified, modern platform across broadcast, digital media and live experiences.

andstudio approached the project by looking back to M1’s origins and reactivating the spirit of its 1989 “golden age.” Rather than abandoning the past, the studio refined the original logo, a symbol still deeply rooted in collective memory, adjusting its proportions and sharpening its colour palette to meet contemporary standards. From the logo’s angular geometry, a custom alphabet was developed, giving M1 a distinctive typographic voice that runs consistently through headlines, programme titles and communications.

Within this renewed system, each sub-brand was clearly repositioned while remaining part of a single, coherent identity. M1 expresses bold contemporaneity through a vibrant blue, M1+ adopts black to reflect its focus on timeless classics, and M1 Dance uses pink to convey energy, rhythm and movement. Together, these elements create an identity that is both unified and flexible, capable of adapting to different contexts while maintaining strong recognition.

The result is a visual language that honours M1’s cultural heritage while projecting it confidently into the present. The new identity allows the brand to function not only as a radio station, but as a broader cultural platform, designed to live seamlessly across on-air graphics, digital interfaces, social media and large-scale live events. Through this rebrand, M1 reclaims its relevance, translating decades of influence into a contemporary, digitally fluent expression.

The project features photography by Vincas Čygas and a custom typeface designed by Mykolas Saulytis. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, andstudio is recognized for its strategic, innovative and bold approach to design, working across brand development, visual storytelling, typography, UX/UI and web design to craft identities and digital experiences with precision, clarity and strong conceptual depth.