In 1991 when the idea to establish a charity for research in the Histiocytoses was proposed, Elizabeth Kontoyannis set to work on the design and publication of a brochure;  information about the disease had to be presented to the public and she wanted this to be partly represented by the charity’s logo.

The core design of the Histiocytosis Research Trust logo came about when Elizabeth and others, noticed the Langerhans Cell’s resemblance to that of a tennis raquet. The arms on either side were chosen to give the image a  human form, and in  way to embrace the cell itself.

The colours decided on were red for the blood, white for the colour of the cell affected, and blue to signify that the disease was not confined within the boundaries of any one country but spread across oceans and seas, and should therefore be viewed as a global concern.

Co-incidentally, the colours of the logo matched those of the Union Jack flag of the UK and as the trust was originally established as a national U.K. charity, this also seemed quite appropriate at the time.