Minimalist, unusual, and meaningful, the logo of the digital payments network Zelle does a great job.
While the brand was launched in 2017, its history can be easily traced back to 2011, when a service with similar functions was created. It worked under the name of clearXchange and belonged to three owners, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. It turned out to be quite successful and was rebranded in late 2017 under a sleeker and more effective name.
The company views its product as disruptive, a new step in the evolution of money transfers in the US. This sets a certain standard for the visual brand identity. Also, we should mention their concept of “connecting people through money like never before.”
The most notable part of the Zelle logo is arguably the letter “Z.” Not only is it the largest of all letters, but it also has characteristic vertical lines, which make it look like a currency symbol. The glyph is unique enough to serve as an app icon and favicon, too.
The capitalized initial is followed by lowercase letters. The name of the brand is placed inside a rather large rectangle. The letters are white, while the filling of the box is of a vivid and optimistic shade of purple.
The creative team behind the logo is Huge, an experience design and digital marketing agency based in New York, NY, US.
The majority of the company’s competitors typically choose shades of blue and green as the main colors of the logotypes. The main reason why the designers behind the Zello logo opted for a radically different palette was that they wanted the emblem to stand out. One more reason was that the color scheme was to be different from the corporate colors of any of Zelle’s owner banks.
The type is a clean and modern sans. The thickness of the strokes is pretty much the same in all the glyphs, although there are slight variations. The ends of the letters aren’t rounded. The proportions of the glyphs are pretty classic, which provides excellent legibility.
The only unique feature of the font (apart from the “currency” strokes on the “Z,” of course) is the way the lower ends of the “l’s” are rounded, which is slightly unusual.
What is Zelle
One of the most popular instant payment services in the United States, Zelle provides electronic money transfers from bank accounts to other registered bank accounts (within the country). This can be performed with the help of a mobile device or the website of a bank.