BPI - old and new signage, day and night significant improvement

WAWAM! was lucky enough to witness workers installing the new horizontal signage of BPI while the old one was still there. in this picture, the new signage, with the logo and bold letters "BPI" signage on the right with workers still holding it look significantly better than the old one, on the left that only had the logo in it.

the old signage was in three parts - the logo, the "express teller sign" below it and under that is the branch name. the logo is basically red in color but the "express teller" signage was mostly blue. the new logo removes the inconsistency.

we think it's a remarkable improvement that is worth all the trouble and expense.

how they did it:

new bank signages picture gallery

here are the pictures of the various new bank signages that have been discussed in WAWAM! for your comparison and appreciation.

the differences are very obvious, as they should be. aside from the differences in style, color and design elements, you can also clearly detect the differences in brand characters. each of these signages communicate a specific brand image or personality.





banks should pay a lot of attention and effort into their signages. most banks don't have advertising, some might not need them even and for many, their signages would be the main if not the only source of brand image for prospective bank customers and are not just physical directional signs.

banks should have a very similar attitude to that of restaurants who know the value of signages, location and ambiance. getting it right in signages can mean to many banks getting it right in brand image.

battle of the new bank signages - BPI gets it right!

of the few banks that have recently refurbished their signages, BPI or Bank Of The Philippine Islands is the one that got it right. BPI's design is simple and very clean, elegant, classy and looks pretty solid.

they did away wit any lines, just their red color, graphics logo and their name logo. no frills but very effective. they have also decided to emboss the everything and that gives it a more 3D effect and gives their signages a lot of class. when lit at night it's really very effective.

BPI is known to be the largest bank network in the country and this design reflects that leadership. it's also a good thing that they have put in their signage the branch location. this helps a lot as often times they have more than one branch if not on the same street, definitely in the same vicinity. knowing exactly the branch name helps make sure you are in the correct branch.

they also have a vertical signage and it also works very well as shown in the above picture. this bank is more known as BPI and that makes the vertical signage work for them. this signage works because of the lack of clutter. all they have are clean and simple lines. very appropriate for a bank of their stature.

the new unionbank signage and the secret meanings of design

i like it when graphic design agencies present their work, specially on logo designs. they can be real poetic during the presentation. logos are always full of meanings and symbolism and the best design agencies pride themselves in being able to give a meaning to each and every item in their design - from shapes, forms, font, symbols, lines to colors. you name it, they have a corresponding meaning for it.

that was most likely the case for the new unionbank signage.

the orange color gets you. you can't escape from looking at it. i don't bank with unionbank, so i just see their signage while inside a moving vehicle and i tended to look at it. there was something about that logo that catches me all the time.

on the first few times, i would always look at it twice or thrice. then finally, one day when i had the time and there was not too much traffic, i stopped the car, looked at the signage and even took pictures of it. finally figured out this thing that made me give the signage not once but looked at it at least three times.

before that, if you look closely, you will see there are actually 3 shades of orange on it. it can be subtle or invisible to most, but i was able to appreciate the differences. i wonder what the are meanings of having 3 shades of orange on the signage.

new unionbank signage - horizontal application

this is what prompted me to stop the car and stare at their signage - it's something i needed to confirm.

the first time i saw that signage, i thought the workers were not yet finished in installing the logo. i told myself there must be a missing part on the signage but since they needed to put it up, probably can't leave the long signage lying around, so the workers decided to put a large and strong duct tape on the signage, right on the edge of the letter "N" and right beside it, the leter "B" (UNIONBANK).

i thought those workers were very inefficient for going to the bank with incomplete parts of the signage. i also thought, did the workers have to put the duct tape on the outside? why didn't they put the tape at the back so it can't be seen?

but then i saw that duct tape on the letters N and B were still on the same signage in the same bank for a few days. what, the workers have not returned to finish the job? and to my surprise, the other branches of unionbank had the same duct tape on their signages!

and that is what i needed to confirm - was that a duct tape that i saw or was it part of the design? after a few minutes, i realized it is part of the design!

i bet that vertical line is meant to symbolize the act of "unity" or coming together. i like the meaning, but did it have to be executed that way? from a distance, the duct tape design element looked like a design error or an installation error.

those were stormy days and i honestly thought it was an incomplete installation of the signage and they just put a duct tape over it to make sure it does not get blown away by the raging storm!

it does not seem to be a design element, it looks like someone made a mistake in it's installation. i think very few people will get the intended meaning of it.

new unionbank signage - vertical application

above is the vertical application and that very eloquently shows the significant weakness of the duct-tape-over-letters- N- and-B graphic design element -- in a vertical signage, there was no way they could apply the same idea on this layout.

the question then is - why use a design element that cannot be applied in both horizontal and vertical layouts? i am sure the design agency knew the design concept will be applied to both horizontal and vertical layouts. this says the "meaning" that they wanted to be conveyed in the horizontal layout is totally absent in the vertical layout. why bother having it if it can't be applied to both? if having that meaning is important to them, then choose a design idea other than the duct tape over the letters execution that can be applied for both layouts.

new unionbank signage - vertical and horizontal applications

of course there will be banks that will have both layouts and the difference in the signages can be seen - one has a duct tape design element and the other does not.

i am very much tempted to enter a unionbank branch for two reasons - want to see if they have changed their logos on their stationary and if their bank employees have a duct tape on their foreheads to be consistent with the signage design.

the duct tape design element - it's a WAWAM!

metrobank : new signage crossed lines from the dark age

this is the old metrobank signage which has since been replaced with a new one just recently. it's a simple design - monochromatic with the logo graphics and text logo as the key elements.

the approach on the new metrobank signage was to add new elements to the singnage - a white border around the logo graphics (a diamond resting on the the letter M) to call attention to it and yellow accents.

compared to the old singnage, the new one has effectively brought metrobank out of the dark age.

it is now more engaging. the addition of the yellow color even though minimal in the horizontal signage made a big difference. it gave the signage a little more life.

the design works quite well on the horizontal signage but i think it's a disaster on the vertical signage. there are just too many lines and colors on the vertical one. the yellow became too prominent and all of a sudden they added white borders. they were thin white borders but it added to the clutter.

the new design called attention to the "diamond on the letter M" logo graphics. i had not noticed it much before. it could have used a little more drama if instead of the logo graphics rendered flat, they could have raised it or made it looked embossed. that could have given it a little more class.

the important question on this singnage, as it should be asked for all sinages - is that the brand image or brand character the bank wants to communicate to clients? the new signage of metrobank carries with it a set of new brand images. do those match with the thinking and direction the bank has set for it itself?

separately, i suspect other banks copied some of the concepts and ideas from the metrobank signage. more on that in the next discussions.

security bank logo and a dirty little secret

a few banks have recently changed their signages. it's interesting that it's happening at about the same time. did the banks talk among themselves on the timing? some of the changes are from good to better but some are from good to bad. WAWAM! will look into these changes.

this one for security bank is not really a change for them. it's been the same old singnage design. but it's here for the logo.

i get choked up at their logo graphics - i am sure it's supposed to be the letter "S" in "Security" and that's good. but did they have to mangle the letter "S" that much?

i have two guesses how the design agency sold that logo graphics design to security bank.

one is the yin-yang idea, like a full circle of life thought, something complete. but my guess is what they made a big deal on is the graphics resemble the number "8", it's a lucky number for the chinese and the family who owns security bank are chinese.

with chinese clients - present them something that is "lucky", like a graphics design that looks like the number "8" or the color gold or red and they will find it very tempting to buy it.

it pays to know your clients. that is one of those dirty little secrets that ad agencies and in this case design agencies know and use to great success with chinese clients.