American Trust: Bank Logo
- Logo
CLIENT: Corporate Design Class Project
CHALLENGE: Our assignment was to design an identity for a nationalized bank. In the hypothetical scenario I worked with, the big commercial banks fail and are merged under the US government into a national bank (maybe not too far from reality). So how to build an identity for this national bank?
DESIGN STRATEGY: I wanted the new bank to feel stable and safe (attributes that were lost when so many banks failed), have unique regional identities (because I wanted people to feel a special connection with their regional bank, so it is not just a monolithic national corporation) and also have a strong national identity (so the brand would be recognizable if you traveled outside of your region). I named it “American Trust” because it communicates patriotism and utilizes the double-meaning of “trust”.I initially tried representing the different regions through illustration of regional landscapes, physical characteristics and monuments. This strategy didn’t work too well because the illustrations became too specific. Eventually, I decided to depict the geographic shape of the US, a shape that would also represent a secure container for what is inside of it (your money!). Each regional logo would feature its geographic shape inside of this container shape. I did a lot of sketches (see below) to figure out what this form should look like.I chose a form that was abstract, but did capture the basic shape of the country. Then I divided the country into 9 different regions and drew geographic forms to represent each one. A color was assigned to each region based on its geography or industry.The next task was to create many different “lock-ups” (different configurations of symbol and type) of the logo for use on the many many brand applications. Sometimes you have a long narrow space to work with, and you need a horizontal logo, and sometimes you have a tall space and you need a vertical logo. The initial logo design is really just the beginning, making sure that it is flexible enough to be applied on anything and everything you can think of is the tricky part. Below are some of the environmental applications. I also designed debit cards, business cards, ATM screens, corporate headquarters signage, and free-standing ATM signage.