VISA INTERNATIONAL:  A new twist

New:  logo

Launched:  Announced March 15, 2005. Official worldwide launch September 15, with a new card design (incorporating 'holomagnetic' stripe technology), in U.S delayed to January 2006. 

Story in brief:
This is a "brand refreshment" story. It's also the re-integration of  corporate and category brands.

As we all know, Visa is engaged in a continuing and epic battle with MasterCard (and others) for share in the bank card business, which is in turn morphing into a virtually plastic-free "transaction platforms" industry. (It's not a card, silly; it's just a number.) Its brandmark, however, was literally a picture of a card (originally, the 1958 BankAmericard), and thus was an image-limiting and business-limiting symbol. A corporate mark (Visa with a swoosh), added in 2001(?) to open things up a bit, didn't solve the problem... it just added confusion.

In 2003, (then) CEO Malcolm Williamson hired John Elkins, CEO of Futurebrand (nee Dieffenbach Elkins), to the new post of Global Brand and Marketing director. In due course Elkins retained Wolff Olins for identity counsel, then design, and added other firms for design exploration. He also hired an experienced logo designer, Greg Silveria (ex Futurebrand, Landor), as Creative Director.

The design story:
Interesting. And unusual. Well into the process, Visa needed a 'placeholder' solution, for testing purposes only. Silveria dashed off the 'twisted serif" idea in (rumor has it) thirty minutes. Surprise: it tested as well as the work the consultants had produced after eight months of due process. Visa business managers liked it better, and broke the tie.

Visa publicity describes the solution in these terms:
"It differs from the Visa mark now seen on cards and at acceptance locations as follows:
-  "The 'V' in Visa has been enhanced with a gold color to highlight the Visa   wordmark's unique serif
-  "The word 'Visa' is much more prominent, reflecting research that               consumers respond to seeing the word 'Visa' more than to the mark
-  "The banners used as borders in the current design have been eliminated.   Research had shown these were confining and reinforced the impression of Visa as a card product.  Today Visa is used for payment in multiple ways (in commercial systems, on the Internet, mobile phones etc)"
 

Credits:
C.E.O.: Christopher Rodrigues
Chief brand officer - John Elkins, EVP Global Brand and Marketing
Identity design - Internal: Greg Silveria (VP and Creative Director)

First Impressions:
Indeed, it is a brilliant solution. The name itself is the greatest brand asset, and the wordmark (already modernized for the corporate/swoosh version) was perfectly functional; there was no need to change it -- except, perhaps, that its only distinctive element, the serif on the V, was a bit dated. Silveria simply gave this feature a creative twist.

It's a good illustration of Rule 4, in The Six Universal Attributes of a Great Mark:  Keep it simple -- just one graphic idea, one gimmick, one dingbat.  

Other comments:
I think the new design is simple, elegant, and indeed more prominent. I wish more designers knew when to ‘stop’ when designing. I once heard about a kindergarten teacher with amazing art work coming from her young class. Other teachers were intrigued.  She explained “the kids don’t know when to stop, so I just take the paper away and tell them to start a new one.” Toni Wojtyra