HSBCCopied

HSBC's hexagon goes back to the bank's house flag, a white rectangle split diagonally into a red hourglass, inspired by the St Andrew's cross of Scotland, home of founder Thomas Sutherland. The hexagon came from adding two red triangles to the sides of that flag. The symbol survived the 2018 update almost untouched; the lettering did not.

The hexagon's author was Henry Steiner, hired in 1979 to unify a group of banks that each used its own identity; it was introduced from 1983, set beside the name in Times Roman. HSBC's marketing chief at the time of the redesign told Campaign the hexagon was an amazing device, as well known outside financial services as within, and that with most transactions digital, something instantly recognisable was powerful.

The slender, almost calligraphic serif letters were replaced by solid sans serif forms. The order was flipped so the hexagon comes first and the name second, and the red of the hexagon was deepened. HSBC's own explanation was practical: in a digital world with endless touchpoints, a bold name is more readable, whether on a phone or at the top of a skyscraper.

The new lettering is Univers. Steiner told Zolima CityMag that after he had finished and been paid, the bank started tinkering, and called the result wasteful and confusing: a system with integrity, changed a bit here and a bit there. Creative Bloq noted the change largely flew under the radar, possibly because it was so inoffensive.

No outside studio was credited in the bank's materials.

Marketing Week later reviewed the commercial case. By 2018 HSBC faced branch closures, competition from challengers and the end of The World's Local Bank, and its brand value had fallen 25 percent; after closing branches worldwide it could no longer credibly claim to be everyone's local bank. Together We Thrive, developed with outside agencies, recast the promise around an open, connected world, while the hexagon was pushed across every touchpoint, from app loading screens to branches, and anchored the sub-brands, joined by a sonic identity. The magazine reported that HSBC's Kantar BrandZ valuation rose 15 percent between 2017 and 2018, alongside a 16 percent rise in pre-tax profit.

Creative Bloq used the change as a case study in brands abandoning serifs, noting that the old typeface had marked HSBC as traditional and established, which is reassuring when you look after other people's money. That is the trade-off. The new version is clearer and better on screens, and the hexagon carries the heritage on its own. It also makes HSBC look like every other bank that went sans serif in the same few years, which is a real loss for a brand whose letters were once distinctive.