When we see an overlapping red and yellow circle with a small patch of orange in the center, that logo is always instantly recognized. Any business or food establishment with a storefront would typically have this plastered on their window, to let people know that Mastercard is an accepted form of payment.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
With the growth of digital exchanges, cash is slowly dying. Mastercard has come a long way in aiding the growth of non tangible monetary exchange, and their logo has changed and grown just as much as the company has.
Mastercard’s first logo. | Mastercard
Originally called “Master Charge”, the first rendition of the logo had two circles overlapping, with the name of the card, and the logo for interbank. Interbank is the origin of Mastercard. It is not actually a bank as the name would suggest, but a group of 17 bankers that laid the groundworks in 1966 for the concept of a credit card. The venn diagram used in the logo gives a sense of togetherness. It could signify the unity of people, with the help of mastercard bridging any misconnections financially. This venn diagram designs comes from Alan Siegel, of Siegel+Gale, a design firm that also created other well known logos such as the vanishing Metrocard logo, and 3M, the consumer goods company.
Mastercard’s 1979 logo. | Mastercard
Following a name change in 1979, the new logo featured the new name, but kept the old venn diagram graphic from the original logo. This change comes with the intention to show a more multipurpose nature for the card. Another reason for this name change is that the word “charge” has a negative meaning for many consumers. It is often associated with going into debt or “being in hock”. The font appears to have a minor, modernized change. It goes from a sans serif with more rounded edges, to one with sharper edges. It looks more impactful and modern.
Mastercard’s 1990 logo. | Mastercard
In 1990, Mastercard redesigned its logo with brighter colors. The muted orange was swapped with yellow, and the center where the venn diagram previously overlapped with a darker red is replaced with horizontal stripes. This design further modernizes the MasterCard logo, using brighter more vivid colors and slightly italicizing the font.
Mastercard’s 1996 logo. | Mastercard
A drop shadow was added to the text to give the logo a facelift, and the amount of stripes in the center of the venn diagram were reduced to simplify the circles. This gave the logos a bit of complexity and the drop shadow made it easier to read the text. To this day, the 1996 logo is the one that is still used on credit cards.
Mastercard’s 2006 logo. | Mastercard
2006 brought a failed redesign. The logo became too complicated, and was no longer recognizable. The gradients deviated too far from it’s simple origins. It was no longer two circles overlapping. It looked like too many circles in one place. This design was only used at the corporate building, so existing credit and debit cards were not affected by this nightmare of a logo.
Mastercard’s 2016 logo. | Mastercard
In July of 2016, the logo was once again changed. There is a new minimalist typeface, using all lowercase letters and the text was removed from the two circles. Mastercard is now on the bottom, making the name and wordmark feel very front and center.
Mastercard’s 2019 logo. | Mastercard
I believe with this last rendition of mastercard’s logo, they’ve reached a design peak. Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer says that the company is trying to shape a digital future. “It was time for us to evolve our brand identity to reflect this– on the pillars of simplicity, connectivity, seamlessness, and modernity”. Being able to have a logo that is instantly recognizable around the world without text means the logo is doing its job. Michael Bierut, a partner at Pentagram and the graphic designer behind this latest change says markets often want an abstract symbol to represent the company, which is what led to the removal of type from the original logo. “People really want that Nike swoosh or Apple apple.” he says. “The trick is you cant fast forward that process, really.” Clearly there was no fast forwarding with Mastercard, their logo took over 50 years to evolve into an ambiguous but immediately recognizable venn diagram. Mastercard’s core beliefs that the red should symbolize passion, courage, joy and yellow should symbolize optimism, richness, and prosperity have not changed since the beginning.
Mastercard website on a mobile phone interface
This change was brought about because the company wants to move away from credit cards and wants to dominate the virtual finance world. A logo without text is easier to incorporate into various designs, especially for digital use. This logo is now universally used, and although there are other credit card companies, it remains one of the most iconic.Â
