The earliest Reuters logo, with its shielded rider inside an oval shape, was somewhat reminiscent of a medieval coat of arms.
Reuters was founded in London in 1851, by Paul Julius Reuter, who came to the United Kingdom from the German city of Aachen. Reuter opened the agency’s first office to transmit stock news to Paris using a new telegraph cable. Before that, he used carrier pigeons.
From 1858 the Reuter Agency became the main supplier of information to all the major London newspapers, including the Times. The credibility and timeliness of the information conveyed contributed to Reuter’s growing credibility and popularity. In 1878 Paul Reuter turned over the management of the agency to his son Herbert, who successfully continued his father’s work. After Herbert’s death, the agency ceased to be just a family business, becoming a major stock company of information.
Today the Reutersagency has over 14 thousand employees in 91 countries around the world, including about 2,5 thousand journalists, photojournalists, and videographers. Reuters has a total of 197 bureaus around the world.
What is Reuters?
Reuters is the name of the world’s best-known international news agency, which was established in the United Kingdom in 1851, and named after its founder, Paul Julius Reuter. The initial purpose of the company was to sell information from one source to different places.
The very first logo for Reuters was executed elegantly and traditionally. It was a vertically oriented oval medallion with a double black and white outline and a solid black background. Inside the badge, there was a white crest image and a horse. As for the lettering changed the “Reuters” in the uppercase of a modern sans-serif typeface was arched above the horse, while the “London E.C.” Was arched along the bottom line of the oval, written in smaller letters.
The redesign of 1858 changed the concept of the Reuters visual identity, making it composed of cursive lettering set in one line. The monochrome color palette and the elegant curved lines of the “Reuters Limited” inscription made the whole logo look timeless and sophisticated.
In 1905 the logotype was redesigned. The name of the company was shortened to just “Reuters” and the new nameplate was set in the uppercase of a bold and extended serif typeface with elegant contours of its massive wide letters and strong elongated serifs. The color palette remained untouched.
In 1965 the “dot” wordmark, which included 84 dots, was created by the British graphic designer Alan Fletcher. Most likely, it was inspired by teleprinter tape.
The sites became smaller and the Reuters logo got more air and lightness in 1972. The inscription was still composed of numerous solid black sports, forming the contours of the letters, but now the logotype was more readable and elegant, in comparison to the previous bold version. This logo stayed with Reuters for almost two decades.
In 1995 the black color of the dots was changed to a calm yet bright blue color and the logotype got accompanied by an abstract emblem. The emblem featured a solid circle, which was vertically divided into white and blue halves and had orange and white dot patterns placed over it.
The redesign of 2001 kept the design of the emblem untouched, but enlarged it and redrawn all of its elements more boldly and confidently. As for the logotype, the dot concept was gone, and the new inscription was set in the uppercase of a strong and confident sans-serif typeface with the letters written in thick lines.
The current emblem was designed by the US brand consultancy firm Interbrand in 2008. It was possibly inspired by a depiction of a spiral staircase as seen from above.
The smooth, confident and sleek lettering from the primary Reuters logo is set in the uppercase of an elegant and modern sans-serif typeface with some slightly arched details in the contours of the characters. The closest fonts to the one, used in this insignia, are, probably, Neo Sans Arabic Medium, or Geon Soft Bold, with some insignificant modifications.
As for the color palette of the Reuters visual identity, it is based on an interesting and cool combination of orange and light gray, which makes the badge memorable and unique: orange is the model of motion and energy, while gray stands for stability and confidence, as well as excellence and professionalism.
The current Reuters logo has four standard versions varying in terms of the colors: