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The Late Great Bank of New York

Doesn’t it often seem that as soon as something you actually like comes along, it’s only a short amount of time before it’s gone again? This is how I feel about the latest, and indeed last, logo and general visual identity of the Bank of New York. Readers are no doubt aware that the Bank of New York is the oldest bank in America (founded by Alexander Hamilton) and that its was the first share traded on the New York Stock Exchange when that great financial market was founded beneath a buttonwood tree in 1792.

In 2005, the Bank of New York finally dumped their 1980’s-feel, dated-but-traditional logo in favor of a new design put together by the New York brand house of Lippincott (then still known as Lippincott Mercer). The logo suggested an old stock or bank note but its polychromatic scheme gave it a modern vibrancy. The adjacent logotype was along similar lines: “Bank” and “New York” in a tasteful, restrained modern with “The” and “of” in a delightfully traditional fluid colonial script.

But on July 1, 2007, the ancient Bank of New York merged with a foreign interloper, the Mellon Financial Corporation of Pennsylvania and the disgusting hybrid child of the marriage is cumbersomely monikered: “The Bank of New York Mellon”. How awkward and ungainly! Along with the merger came a new logo, also designed by Lippincott, which you can see on the BNYM website. This pitiful modern arrowhead design says little, other than one might suffer bodily harm at its handling.

The 2005 Bank of New York logo evoked a sense of solidity. “I have deep roots and firm foundations,” it seemed to say, “but am nonetheless modern and adapting to change”. Think of the feel, the smell, of a worn bank note and then compare it to the dull, prickly arrowhead which threatens injury. The old logo you stick in you pocket and gain a sense of security from. The new logo you worry a ninja might hurl at you.

It was an error even to change the name, if you ask me. “The Bank of New York” has such a simplicity and a solidity to it, which the new name rather lacks. It is just like the old New York law firm of Dewey Ballantine, which suffered a takeover recently and is now known as “Dewey and LeBoeuf”. Rather sounds like a pair of huckster Louisiana lawyers hoping to make a few off the innocent inhabitants of the Bayou. So stick to the tried and the true, folks. It usually works.

Published at 8:46 pm on Tuesday 15 April 2008. Categories: Design New York Tags: , , .
Comments

As a former graphic designer and art director, I would have to agree with you, Andrew. Not only is the new name cumbersome, it sounds silly. And what exactly is the arrowhead supposed to communicate? Your remarks concerning the 2005 Lippincott-designed logo are right on target. As for the ideal of sticking to the tried and true: all too rare in the corporate sector.

— kd 18 Apr 2008 9:52 am

As bad as “Dewey and LeBoeuf” is, things could have been worse. In late 2006, Dewey, Ballantine announced its intention to merge with SF-based Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. The deal fell apart, of course, but not until after the prospective, merged firm of “Dewey Orrick” had acquired a distinctive nickname: http://www.abovethelaw.com/2006/11/best_law_firm_nickname_ever.php

— ScurvyOaks 5 May 2008 3:27 pm
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