Winston is a cigarette label from the USA which was established in 1954 by R.J. Reynolds and today is a part of the Imperial Tobacco company. Named after the city in North Carolina, the brand became famous and one of the best-selling cigarette labels worldwide.
Winston’s visual identity is simple yet strong and confident. It is composed of a wordmark with an emblem above it.
The Winston wordmark is executed in a sans-serif typeface with smooth lines and a diagonal cut of the upper part of the “W”. The lettering looks modern and minimalist, yet evokes a sense of quality and stability.
The Winston emblem is a flying eagle with his wings, body, and tail colored and the head only contoured. It is a symbol of free spirit and movement. One of the most powerful animal mascots.
All the previous versions of the Winston logo were the same, the only difference was in the typeface — before the last brand’s redesign, all the inscriptions were executed in a traditional serif font, which was slightly condensed.
As for the color palette, the brand’s signature combination is blue and white, but it varies from pack to pack, depending on the intensity of the cigarettes.
The Winston logo is laconic yet instantly recognizable. It is a timeless visual identity design, which requires only small modifications throughout the time, but always stays trendy and actual.
The original logotype featured a dark red rectangle that incorporated the liking of the bald eagle on its left and the name of the company across the rest of the figure. The former was a detailed portrayal colored white and bronze. The latter used white letters of a bold serif script.
In 1983, the same logotype was redesigned to appear simpler. This particularly affected the eagle bit, which became a lot less nuanced. It also became smaller by comparison, whereas the letters grew in size. They didn’t change in any other way, although the color of the rectangular bit became much brighter.
A new design followed in 1990. It became a vertical rectangle with a horizontal white stripe in the middle, golden rims on each side and red in the rest of the logo. In the central white area, they’ve placed the word ‘Winston’ in a similar design as before, but red and much narrower.
In 1995, they’ve decided to use the eagle image again, this time showing it mid-flight with outstretched wings. It’s still simplistic, but they’ve made it golden with the white head this time. Beneath it is usually the name of the company, written in big blue letters. The font is a new, more typographic type of serif (compared to the earliest logotypes) with narrower, thinner letters.
The logo adopted in 1999 uses the same imagery, but with the new colors and placed in the middle of a dark red square, much like before. The eagle also grew in size, became white and with the red head. The letters didn’t change in appearance, save for their new white color.
The additional design introduced in 2018 features a different layout and the new look for both elements. The eagle has even fewer details now; it’s sleeker and grey (with the white head). They typically put it in a comparably smaller size right above the right end of the wordmark.
The wordmark itself is the same shade of grey, whereas the font was also modified. The general style is similar, but it’s likewise more sleek and with less pronounced serifs this time.
The secondary design adopted in 2019 is a more official-looking stamp that essentially just uses the name in a bright red color. It’s identical to the font used in 1999, except with tilted letters.
The font Winston uses since 1995 is a strict, professional serif script that’s supposed to represent their commitment to the brand and the ‘high class’ of their products. The newer 2018 font is a version of it with a sleeker look, part of the modern trend to simplify logotypes.
Winston’s trademark color is red – either bright red or a darker crimson shade. They’ve been using it practically nonstop since the inception of the brand. The only pause in this story was in 1995-1999, when the company instead opted to use a combination of gold and blue. Grey has also become rather more prominent lately.