The Truist bank logo: A guide to Truist logo history
How much do you know about the Truist bank logo? The official “Truist logo” is relatively new to the financial space, as the new company was only formed in 2019. However, this emblem has an interesting story for those interested in the design.
Since it was introduced, the Truist bank logo has inspired some controversy among logo designers, branding experts, and design lovers alike.
While some people consider the emblem to be an excellent insight into the compassionate and luxurious nature of the brand, others find it too bland or simplistic. Some even feel the Truist “square” looks like a belt buckle.
However you feel about the Truist logo, it’s undoubtedly an interesting emblem worth exploring if you’re looking for inspiration for your own logo design. Today, we will look deeper at the Truist logo and what it means.
An introduction to the Truist bank brand
One thing you may notice when viewing the Truist bank logo is its relatively modern design.
There are also no older versions of the Truist logo available to explore online, so we can’t really get much insight into how the brand identity has evolved like we would with other major banks. The reason for this is the “Truist” brand is relatively new.
Truist Financial Corporation is a bank holding company which officially formed in 2019. This makes it one of the newer banks in the American financial landscape. However, the history of the Truist organization dates back much further.
Truist was created by merging two other major financial corporations, BB&T (Branch Banking and Trust Company) and SunTrust Banks.
Today, Truist bank operates more than 2,700 branches across the United States and offers various services, from consumer and commercial banking to securities brokerage and asset management.
Truist, despite its relative youth, is also on the list of the largest banks in the United States by assets. As of 2021, it was the 10th largest bank in operation and the 7th largest insurance broker.
Why did they change the name to Truist? Truist meaning
To understand the Truist logo, we first need to understand the reasoning behind the name. “Truist” is quite an unusual title for a bank, but it makes sense when we examine the two companies that formed the new entity.
When BB&T and SunTrust officially closed their merger deal in 2019, they decided they needed to choose a brand-new name for their entity.
To ensure both banks had an equal impact on the formation of the new company, the organizations decided to choose a name that conveyed elements of both of their identities. Both names included the word “Trust.”
BB&T (Branch Banking and Trust company) and SunTrust decided to build on this shared component and value.
Rather than simply opting for something challenging to copyright, like the “Trust” bank, the organizations demonstrated their creativity and innovation by coming up with a new word, “Truist”, and the new bank’s branding journey began.
Truist logo history: The evolution of the Truist Bank logo
Since the Truist company is relatively new, there are no prior versions of the design to look back on. However, we can learn more about why the organization chose its emblem today by looking at the BB&T bank logo and the SunTrust bank logo.
The BB&T logo
Before the merger, the BB&T logo was a simple monogram featuring a serif, deep red font. The design is elegant and sophisticated, as well as relatively compact. The letters in the wordmark are pressed extremely close together to the point where the second B almost merges with the ampersand.
The deep shade of red chosen for this logo was intended to show the passion and sophistication of the company. Red is a color we often associate with deep emotion and power.
The SunTrust logo
The SunTrust bank logo before the merger was a combination mark. It featured a sunburst-style graphic in shades of orange and yellow, intended to highlight a sense of enlightenment and happiness. The wordmark for the company was depicted in all serif-style font.
Like the BB & T logo, the letters are pushed significantly close together, connecting in places.
The color chosen for the wordmark by the SunTrust company was a deep shade of blue – a standard color in the financial industry, as it’s commonly associated with reliability and trust.
The Truist logo
The Truist logo is quite different from the emblems chosen for the previous banks. Unlike the other two companies, this logo uses a sans-serif font, with the letters spaced evenly apart, with lots of white space to support legibility and highlight modernity.
Like the SunTrust logo, the Truist logo has a graphical element. There’s a shape of a box with two “Ts” inside, perhaps representing the two Ts in the previous company’s names, which came together to inspire the new moniker. The box also looks a little like a lock box from a bank.
The color chosen for the logo was a deep shade of purple, commonly associated with luxury, sophistication, elegance, and compassion.
Why is Truist purple? What does the Truist logo mean?
So, why is the Truist logo purple? Simply put, both brands chose a purple logo to help demonstrate the “merger” of their two companies. The primary color used for BB&T’s branding in the past was red, while SunTrust bank used a blue logo.
These two combined colors make a dark purple shade, similar to the one we see in the Truist logo today. It’s also worth noting that the color purple has many positive connotations for the financial industry, including luxury, affinity, wealth, and sophistication.
Why the Truist company changed its font to a sans-serif solution is uncertain. Still, it may result from the companies attempting to create a more contemporary image for their new brand. Sans-serif fonts are often seen as more approachable and modern.
The box graphic in the Truist logo is perhaps the most interesting element of the design.
Neither of the two companies had a box component to their logo before, so the new symbol is entirely new. According to the companies, the square featuring the two “T’s” is intended to represent two of the core components of the company’s identity: trust and technology.”
The square shape symbolizes trust, security, and stability, while the rounded edges highlight the accessibility of the brand. As mentioned above, the form also looks a little like a lock box, which may help to draw attention to the core selling points of the brand.
Truist logo colors, and fonts
Reactions to the Truist logo have been somewhat mixed in the last couple of years. Some people find the image a little too simplistic or say it looks like a belt buckle or electrical circuit. Others feel the design is an excellent way to show the merger of two well-known brands.
Today, the Truist logo is a modern and engaging emblem that stands out well in the financial space for its unique color and font choices. You can find some valuable resources connected to the Truist logo here:
What color is the Truist logo?
The Truist logo colors are some of the most interesting elements of the bank’s emblem. The Truist logo color palette was chosen to represent concepts like sophistication and wealth and highlight the merger of the two brands that came together to create the new entity.
The deep purple is an excellent combination of the burgundy red from the BB&T logo and the blue of the SunTrust logo. The dark purple tone is actually relatively unique to the brand and known as “Truist purple.” However, it’s similar to Russian violet too:
Truist Purple:
Hex: #2D1A47
RGB: 45 26 71
CMYK: 36 63 0 72
Pantone: PMS 2695 C
What font does the Truist logo use?
The Truist logo font is unique to the company, unlike either font for the two companies that merged to create the new venture.
It’s a simple sans-serif font with a slight flourish on the letter “R.” Some experts believe the subtle flourish on the “R” symbolizes the company’s quest to constantly move forward and take new steps towards innovation.
Understanding the Truist bank logo
The Truist logo is an interesting insight into the branding world. With the Truist bank logo, the two companies, BB&T and SunTrust, worked together to create an entirely new emblem they believed would effectively highlight their combined assets and personalities.
The Truist logo may not have captured the love and admiration of every customer in the financial world. Still, it certainly offers us a great insight into how companies can work together when forming a new business following a merger.
Fabrik: A branding agency for our times.
As Fabrik’s creative director, Stephen oversees complex branding programmes. He advises our clients on their tone of voice, creates logos and visual identities and crafts names for companies, products and services. Writing for Brand Fabrik Stephen reflects his love for logo design and visual identity.
