Banking on History: Why Bank Logos Mirror Medieval Castle Keeps
Banks must compel a feeling of security and trust to their customers. One of the starting points for many bank brands is to utilise logo design.
By Adam Charlton · 15 May 2017
Posted in Insight
A bank’s identity must inspire trust, security, and strength. Branding should never be considered in the short term, and banks are the perfect example of an industry that must look to build a feeling of confidence, indefinite permanence and safety.
This is why creating or rebranding an emblem with so much meaning and social value (often subconscious emotional values) should be deeply considered and understood.
A castle’s keep was used as a last resort should the rest of the castle fall to an adversary. The keep is a tower built to protect the occupants in case the castle was broken into during an attack.
The concept of the castle’s keep, with its impenetrably thick walls, balanced symmetry, and square or circular shape. The birds-eye view of the castle illustrates clearly how protected the interior is, just how hard it would have been to attack, with its vastly thick boundary walls and often with only narrow paths to enter the space.
Many bank’s logos are designed around the top view of a castle’s keep. The top plan of the keep shows the power and strength of the castle, the thick walls, with often one path in and out of the through its main gate, illustrated in the white space within the logo. The keep might also have hidden rooms found through maze-style corridors.
Shared visual attributes include symmetrical and balanced basic shapes, such as round, square, and hexagonal; proportionally thick outer walls in relation to the inner white space; and one or a few narrow paths leading to the centre from the outside.
Ultimately, it is the visual metaphors of the castle’s strength, safety, and dominance reflected in the logo design that inspire trust in its audience.
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About the author —
Adam moved to Hong Kong in 2012 and founded the branding agency BrandCraft. Adam has built brands for companies at every growth stage and has consulted for some of the world’s most recognised companies.
