The online retail giant Amazon is currently undergoing another rebranding. True to form, the company is making gradual and sometimes subtle adjustments to its colors, fonts, and logos. However, this latest update represents the most significant brand revision since Amazon’s iconic smile arrow appeared in 2000.
For several days now, Amazon has been using a modified version of its logo across its online store and apps. The iconic smile arrow is now slightly thicker, with a more vibrant orange tone. Additionally, the Amazon wordmark now appears in a new custom font, called Amazon Ember Modern.
Introducing new typography
Since the Kindle e-reader was introduced in 2016, the company has primarily used the Amazon Ember font, developed by the London-based Dalton Maag. In 2020, the Ember font family included three variants: Ember (six weights plus italics), Ember Condensed (four weights plus italics), and Ember Display (five weights).
Back in the spring of 2024, Amazon began implementing a modified logo and the new corporate font across its apps. However, these changes went largely unnoticed due to their subtlety. This month, the refreshed brand logo was finally rolled out across the company’s online assets, and Amazon’s current advertisements feature messages in Amazon Ember Modern Bold.
In addition to Amazon Ember, the company uses various other typefaces within its brand universe (such as Prime and Kindle), depending on the context. For example, the Audible audiobook service uses Audible Sans, Amazon Music features Sharp Grotesk, and Amazon Ember Serif is part of the general branding. Bookerly is also used on Kindle e-readers, along with a condensed typeface linked to the devices in advertising, which visually resembles Ember Modern.
Amazon Ember Modern appears to have been developed by the Berlin-based NaN Foundry. So far, the company has not released official information on the new typography, and media inquiries remain unanswered.
Amazon Ember and Amazon Ember Modern: What’s the difference?
Interestingly, Amazon Ember Modern is a font created from scratch, despite its name suggesting it could be a remastered version of Amazon Ember. The two typefaces exhibit noticeable differences in letterform, height, width, and overall character, despite both being sans-serif fonts. While Amazon Ember features vertically and horizontally aligned strokes (giving the font a somewhat strict appearance), Amazon Ember Modern has sloped strokes in letters like “a” and “r,” creating a more lively and dynamic feel. The punch shapes in Amazon Ember are also more uniform and vertical, whereas in Amazon Ember Modern, they are oval or teardrop-shaped.
The letters in the new font are also narrower, with a shorter descender, which makes it better suited for fitting more text in a small space. These characteristics—its more “human” feel and compact structure—may explain why Amazon intends to use Amazon Ember Modern more widely moving forward.
What’s new in the logo?
The Amazon logo, originally developed by Turner Duckworth, has also been redesigned for the first time since its creation 24 years ago. The smile arrow now appears bolder with a richer shade of orange.
Previously, Amazon’s wordmark did not actually use Amazon Ember; it more closely resembled Franklin Gothic Condensed. The new Amazon Ember Modern, similarly, is not used in the new logo, as both versions are the result of individual modifications. Earlier, in the late 1990s, Amazon utilized Officina Sans Bold for “amazon” and Officina Sans Book for “com.” The new logo can now be seen in the header band on amazon.com, displayed in white against a black background.
This rebranding has also impacted Amazon Prime, the company’s streaming service. The typography and smile arrow in the Prime logo are now aligned with those in Amazon’s main logo.
The old brand logo can still be seen in the footer of the online store and in various other media applications. Given the scope of Amazon’s products and sub-brands, the complete implementation of this brand redesign will likely take several months.
