# Western Union new logo (2019)

> Western Union launched a new logo in Jan 2019. Jan 2019: two-line Western Union caps with yellow bars -> single-line title-case WesternUnion with WU monogram.

## Key facts

- Brand: Western Union
- Launched: Jan 2019
- What changed: Jan 2019: two-line Western Union caps with yellow bars -> single-line title-case WesternUnion with WU monogram.
- Industry: Fintech
- Logos: https://rebrandlog.com/logos/western-union-2019/before.svg (before), https://rebrandlog.com/logos/western-union-2019/after.svg (after)

## The rebrand, explained

Western Union is one of the world's largest cross-border money transfer companies. Merca20 reported that its network had about 550,000 physical points of contact, and that in 2018 it moved more than $300 billion in 130 currencies, processing 34 transactions a second. The 2019 identity was its first update in six years, since 2013.

The headline change was typographic. For the first time Western Union abandoned its name set in heavy capitals, the trait that had made it so easy to recognise, for a lighter lowercase wordmark. The WU monogram introduced in 2013 stayed and took on a more prominent role, with a reworked intersection of the W and the U. The Georgian business magazine Marketer reported that the traditional colours were kept, but the yellow and black became less intense, giving a lighter, more laconic style. New advertising videos accompanied the launch.

Spanish design site El Poder de las Ideas noted that the new logo had been in use since the start of the year with no official press release, so the agency behind it was unknown. Its reading of the design came down to one word: cuts. The U of the monogram is cut to merge with the W, which carries two white diagonal lines; the top of the S is clipped to open space before the T, and the dot of the i is trimmed underneath. It placed the change in a broader shift from heavy type to thin, simple letterforms aimed at digital services, and called it a logical evolution that keeps the black and yellow palette and a similar monogram. The context was digital: in February 2019 the company's chief executive reported that money transfers through westernunion.com had accelerated to 25 percent growth in the quarter.

Reaction online focused on the loss of the huge capitals that had set the brand apart for decades, according to Merca20.

The criticism is fair. Western Union's shouting yellow-and-black capitals were vulgar in the best sense: visible from across a street in any city in the world, at the kind of storefront where people send money home. The new lowercase is calmer and more digital, and the monogram is competent. But recognition was the brand's main asset, and it traded some of it for a look that sits comfortably next to fintech apps without standing out among them.

In short: Western Union stops shouting.

## Sources

- https://www.merca20.com/western-union-renueva-su-imagen-y-dice-adios-a-las-tradicionales-mayusculas/
- https://www.marketer.ge/western-union-rebranding/

## Cite this

Rebrand Log, "Western Union new logo (2019)", https://rebrandlog.com/rebrand/western-union-2019/, last updated 2026-10-20.