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.
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.
The original logo of the company was designed in the 1880s and stayed with the company for more than a hundred years. It was a handwritten logotype with all the letters capitalized and executed in a bold sans-serif typeface with thick lines, rounded shapes and distinct angles.
The inscription looked slightly narrowed and the letters were placed very close to each other, looking compact and solid. Nothing else except for “Barnes & Noble Bookstore” was on the logo.
The redesign of 1992 brought actually nothing new. There was still a wordmark and the same monochrome palette. The difference was in the setup — now the inscription was split into two levels — and the typeface.
The wordmark was executed in an elegant serif cursive, which was similar to Adobe Caslon Pro Italic typeface with the ampersand customized. It was enlarged and written in an old-style manner.
The redesign of 1997 was not even a redesign, just a delicate make-up: the word “Bookstore” was replaced by “Booksellers” and the inscription was now executed in the semi-bold version of the same typeface.
Another new detail of the logo — the underline of the “Barnes & Noble” lettering, which was also black and strict.
The current 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.
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.
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.