The Power and Meaning Behind Bank Logos

Antonea Nabors — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:30:51 +0000

Any business that is consistently working with other people’s money should convey professionalism, trust, commitment, and establish a level of confidence in their capabilities to manage money. A bank logo should instantly communicate with an audience and reflect it’s business division as well as it’s trusting personality. This is why it is extremely important for banks to have a well-designed identity. Many bank logos are designed with similar elements such as patriotic icons and colors. It is always a challenge to create original logos for companies offering similar services in a world where designers are finding inspiration in the same places.

How do banks effectively communicate with their audience through their logo? Fortunately, financial and banking services advertise everywhere! We see banking identities on retail branch signs on every street corner, TV commercials, bumper sticks, even on our writing utensils! By using a logo as their main marketing tool, banks possess the power to make you want to bank with them.

The following banks have well-known logos, but do we actually know how and what these logos are telling us?

Citibank, designed by Paula Scher

The Citibank logo offers security. By incorporating an arc over the lowercase ‘t’ in Citibank you have strong and powerful red umbrella sheltering and taking care of it’s trustworthy patrons.

SunTrust, designed by siegel+gale

“The new logo is a beacon that reflects the warmth, energy, and diverse range of the SunTrust organization.”-siegel+gale. The use of warm colors express the feeling of internal warmth for the SunTrust brand and it’s local, tight-knit community.

Chase Manhattan Bank, designed by Chermayeff & Geismar

Chase Manhattan Bank has merged with JPMorgan, yet its original abstract symbol still remains the same. By using the same shape over and over again, this logo reinforces trust. The repetitive symbol establishes a sense of familiarity which makes us feel comfortable trusting them with our money.

Bank of New Zealand, designed by DNA Design Auckland

Through the use of the color blue alone this logo represents confidence, trust, and loyalty. The typeface, Serrano which was designed specifically for Bank of New Zealand has a very friendly italicized font which is used in their logo. Modern, friendly, and trustworthy, everything you look for in a bank.

Bank of America, designed by Bob Wolf

The icon used in this logo is meant to represent the USA flag, which shows patriotism. Behold the power of 3’s! The best things in life come in 3’s, so they say. The repetition of the double-lined pattern repeating 3 times shows reinforcement and familiarity. The bright red and blue also draw us in by showing strength, power, trust & excitement.

These are just a few of the bank logos used today that follow similar design notions. The beautiful thing about these logos is the way they communicate with an audience and transmit different feelings and meanings. A logo with no power or meaning behind it is simply nothing more than good design.

For many more bank logos check this post.

Logo Designer Blog » Bank