# Warner Bros. new logo (2019)

> Warner Bros. launched a new logo in Nov 2019, designed by Pentagram. Nov 13 2019: Pentagram (Emily Oberman) redraws the WB shield on golden-ratio proportions, drops the 1993 sash, new monogram letterforms + Warner Bros. Condensed type.

## Key facts

- Brand: Warner Bros.
- Launched: Nov 2019
- Studio: Pentagram
- What changed: Nov 13 2019: Pentagram (Emily Oberman) redraws the WB shield on golden-ratio proportions, drops the 1993 sash, new monogram letterforms + Warner Bros. Condensed type.
- Why: Warner Bros. refreshed its shield to position a century-old studio for a world of streaming and small screens.
- Industry: Media
- Logos: https://rebrandlog.com/logos/warner-bros-2019/before.svg (before), https://rebrandlog.com/logos/warner-bros-2019/after.svg (after)

## The rebrand, explained

Warner Bros. unveiled its refreshed shield in November 2019 on the Burbank lot's water tower, with more than 500 employees watching and Bugs Bunny in a tuxedo helping drop the drape, as chief executive Ann Sarnoff presented it. The timing looked ahead to the studio's centennial in 2023, and the brief was to position a century-old studio for a world of streaming and small screens.

The 1993 shield was highly detailed, with a sash bearing the name across the WB monogram, and hard to use small or on screen. Pentagram streamlined it to its essentials. The sash goes, returning the shield and the monogram to prominence; the shield's outline is redrawn on the classical proportions of the golden ratio; and the W and B are refined into cleaner letterforms. The traditional Warner Bros. blue is brightened to a more contemporary hue, with the wordmark in a slightly darker shade for contrast. A custom typeface inspired by the logo's letterforms extends the system.

Credits here go to Pentagram, led by partner Emily Oberman, with Jeremy Mickel expanding the typeface.

The public was less charmed. A survey released after the launch found only 11 percent of respondents preferred the new logo, which its authors read as a sign of how much nostalgia protects iconic marks, and Creative Bloq gathered comments calling it bland or little more than a colour change.

Design Week explained the problem the redraw solved: research showed the 1993 shield, with its banner, was too detailed to work at small sizes and on screens. The banner went, the shield and monogram were rebuilt on golden-ratio proportions, and the letterforms kept their quirks while losing their fussiness. The curve of the B informed the R of a new typeface, Warner Bros. Condensed Bold, and a dimensional version was made for opening credits and promotion. The work looked ahead to the studio's centenary in 2023, and staff saw it first when a tuxedoed Bugs Bunny unveiled it on the lot's water tower.

This is how heritage marks should be updated. The shield is still unmistakably Warner Bros., but it now works as an app icon as well as a water tower. If anything was lost, it is the ornate, slightly theatrical feel of the 1990s version, which suited a film studio's swagger. The new one is more corporate, but far more usable.

In short: A careful restoration: fewer parts, better proportions, same shield.

## Sources

- https://www.pentagram.com/work/warner-bros
- https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/11-17-november-2019/pentagram-emily-oberman-warner-bros/
- https://deadline.com/2019/11/warner-bros-refreshes-logo-as-studios-2023-centennial-approaches-1202785156/

## Cite this

Rebrand Log, "Warner Bros. new logo (2019)", https://rebrandlog.com/rebrand/warner-bros-2019/, last updated 2026-10-20.