Barnes & Noble Logo PNG
Barnes & Noble is an American chain of book stores, which was established in 1886. Today the public company has more than 600 locations nationwide and sells the books through its e-commerce platform, serving customers across the globe.
Meaning and history
The visual identity of the book retailer has always been minimalist yet elegant. The logo was always composed of a wordmark executed in a monochrome palette, which was changed to a colorful version only in 1999.
What is Barnes & Noble?
Barnes & Noble is the name of an American chain of bookstores, which was established in 1886, and by today has grown into one of the largest booksellers in the country, with more than 600 locations across the USA. Apart from books, the stores of the chain also sell music and videos, stationery, board games, and small accessories.
1975 – 1991
The logo for the Barnes&Noble company, created in 1975, featured an elegant two-level wordmark, written in the uppercase of a traditional serif typeface, in white bars, against a solid orange rectangular banner. The bright and contrasting color palette did its job just right, hence there was absolutely no need for any other graphical additions. This version of the badge stayed with the company for more than 15 years.
1991 – 1998
The redesign of 1991 has introduced a completely different concept for the Barnes&Noble logo, with the inscription written in one line, in cursive title case characters with elongated and curved lines of an enlarged ampersand, which makes the main eye-catcher of the composition. The black lettering was set on a plain white background with no colorful accents.
1998 – 2011
The logo of the books retailer was designed in 1999 and has two versions — with and without the tagline.
The logo is composed of a forest green wordmark with a contrasting ampersand, which is elegantly italicized. The combination of colors evokes a sense of mystery and imagination, you can picture a magic forest the books can take you it.
The version with the “Booksellers” tagline features calm orange as an additional color, which symbolizes energy and growth, making the whole logo brighter and more vivid.
2011 – 2019
In 2011 the color palette of the Barnes&Noble visual identity was changed to calm green and silverfish gray. The main lettering remained almost untouched, compared to the previous version, as well as the ampersand, but in a new silver shade, it started looking more delicate and modest. The copper “Booksellers” tagline was completely removed from the composition.
2019 – 2020
The redesign of 2019 has worked with the ampersand again. It gained a more intense shade of gray with gold hues, and its shape was switched to a more stable one. The ampersand grew wider, with its bars becoming a bit thicker, hence it started being more visible, surrounded by the bold green capitals of the logotype. The version stayed active for just a few months.
2020 – Today
In 2020 the lettering on the Barnes&Noble logo was rewritten in a modern sans-serif typeface with medium-weight capitals featuring full geometric shapes and wider spacing in between. The inscription is now set in intense gray, with the elegant, slightly condensed ampersand, drawn in calm gold.
Font
The main wordmark in all capitals is executed in a bold sans-serif typeface, which is very similar to the Balboa Plus Fill font, with straight lines and distinct edges of the letters. It looks timeless and sophisticated, brilliantly representing the professionalism and expertise of the company.
As for the tagline, it is written in all-caps of the serif typeface, which is pretty close to Fabrizio Fractions Regular, a classy font with distinct serifs and confident lines.
Review
Barnes & Nobles is considered to be the largest book retailer in the world, with its 627 stores across 50 states of the USA and online e-commerce platform, the company sells hundreds of thousands books and magazines to millions of its customers.
The range of the company’s catalog includes such categories as books, textbooks as ebooks, which have dozens of subdivisions. There are paperback and hardcover books, classic literature and mass-market ones, kids’ books and electronic devices, magazines, and newspapers. In addition to ebooks, the store also offers Nook tablets and content along with coupons and deals.
The assortment of the store also includes table and card games, collectible items, stationery, and various hobby goods, along with small electronic devices. There is also a big selection of movies in DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD formats and a huge collection of music.
The chain constantly runs different offers and deals and has a big sale department where you can get books and other stuff with up to 50% reduction in price.
Barnes & Noble also offers its customers a membership program, which allows getting more benefits from shopping at the famous retailer’s stores. The membership gives you discounts, free delivery and a lot of small gifts with purchases.
