Walking to the bank to pick the money up from the last article on fashion (haha) I got inspired for the subject of this new one. My bank’s corporate color is orange and I always found that very original but also thought that they didn’t quite extract all the wonderful power out of it: for example, since I do a lot of interiors as well, I have noticed that there isn’t a one single thing in their locations in orange color, not even a chair upholstery, a part of the carpet, or wall applications, which a find really strange. Just imagine the bank all in orange and white, full of light and positive energy, dress code in orange, communication materials in orange, the front entrance in orange – you would beg them to take care of your money! Why did I mention all of this? The more I do these analysis I come to conclusion that we don’t live in the black and white world but in the blue and red one: blues and reds dominate not only in this business area but in logo design overall and I’m becoming more and more aware of that fact. While you browse through this logos I am off to check if there is a official word for ”fear of not using blue and red in branding (of banks)”. Maybe there should be one…
So, who of those should re-brand? Feel free to comment on them, pick out your favorites, ad links of some logos that also deserve to be in this company or do something even more crazy – tell us what would YOU change here to make them more original and interesting. Enjoy!
Twitter: brandsimplicity
I find banks very stale environments, no feelings of warmth or caring at all. The days of a friendly chat with a hot teller are well gone..lol Alen you are right about banks needing to be more approachable, but sadly its all about profit…..and only profit.
Twitter: CobaltCow
Wizard home loans (no longer in existence) in Australia took the opposite approach. THeir palette was ‘ING orange’ and dark gray. Their office walls (at least in the office i lived near) were all bright orange and everything they did saturated the color.
It was actually quite overwhelming, but I could see their effort and could have been very cool if they showed a little restraint.
Too bad for the guys working there that had to stare at the orange overload all day
Twitter: wtito
See this one… http://www.bancobmg.com.br/BancoBMG/site/default.aspx?pagina=8
Twitter: rfr
A few years ago, I was an art director at an ad agency with two bank clients. I was told NEVER use red in anything I did because it would be perceived as “in the red” … not a good thing for banks.
Of course you can see by the examples here that red can work, though it is over done.
Twitter: thomiduvigneau
Even though I still don’t think banks give you a welcome feeling I must admit the ING bank locations (or at least some of them) have done a pretty good makeover, orange is the main colour of their furniture, windows and doors. They did a great job of giving you the ING feeling.
About banking in general. If you’d ask me the suits should go. Most of the time I get the feeling of intimidation, like I’m the stupid customer and they are all knowing and I should feel stupid if I don’t understand the system.
Fabian, Nathan, Tito, Rob, Thomas, thank you all for your very interesting opinions. That introduction line almost started a small ‘orange revolution’ here
Twitter: Houstonwe
Great article, Alen. Really broadens the mind to read about different spheres and what logos are the best in there. I enjoyed citibank the best
Really simplistic but symbolic… I’ve also really liked Deutch, Commerz, Nordea logos. I guess I just find them the most aesthetically pleasing or best to my taste heh)
Twitter: -
Another good topic, Alen, as usual.
It would be cool to have a bank you feel great joining, but the issue of having someone else handling your money is always delicate. There is a bank here that uses yellow and dark gray all over their interior (Raiffeisen), but their logo… no need to end the sentence 
I second your question – why is everything so blue and red in banking? I wonder why… no originality?
I dislike typical approaches which most of banks have. But, it’s ironical how none of them used the shape of a bill, coins or a vault as inspiration (which is something I would have in mind) – though some of them have these origami-like marks and even UBS has keys (old version of locking your money in). A lion is another overly used symbol for the king of the jungle, the best one out there… Bank of America’s flag-like mark is overly used in politics and other areas, wrong choice in my opinion.
SunTrust’s rays are nice, though they remind me more of a seaside resort… Barclays’ eagle is nice, lettering less serious… And, the winner is, in my humble opinion, somewhere between UBS (I would change the lettering) and Fortis (I like how you can see a fort, a town inside those little, multicolored squares).
@ Dalius: thanks, I agree, bank logo really CAN be very simple yet visually and conceptually strong. Commerzbank is a nice refreshment in this area but it will be hard to stay original this way since loops are some kind of a trendy style nowdays.
@ Mia: thanks again, this is the level of the details that I like in the comments: a strong stand with the arguments, being them subjective or objective, right or wrong but they are still a stand and that’s what counts at forums like this one.
And let me hit one of my own now, personally, a winner of the ‘Who should re-brand’ here would be Sun Trust. They need to refresh their identity asap IMO, because this brand name deserves a bit more, a high quality branding that could represent it well in this strong competition and not just leave an impression of the mid 80’s travel agency. Just imagine the possibilities a designer would have working with this brand name, Sun Trust, I got goosebumps from only reading/writing this powerful name, it really deserves better visual statement.