Logo Power

And Indian Corporate Biggies.

State Bank Of India

State Bank Of India, SBI

With 11,448 branches and a further 6500+ associate bank branches, the State Bank of India (SBI) is the largest bank in India. According to Forbes the SBI is the 29th most reputed company in the world. With more than 21000 ATMs across India the SBI ATM network is the biggest in India. In recent years, the bank has sought to expand its overseas operations by buying foreign banks. It is the only Indian bank to feature in the top 100 world banks in the Fortune Global 500 rating.

The State Bank was the facilitator of socialist India’s concept of banking wherein banks were not mere repositories of the community’s savings and lenders to creditworthy parties but rather a purposeful financier, sub serving the growing and diversified financial needs of planned economic development. The State Bank of India acted as the pacesetter in this respect and lead the Indian banking system into the exciting field of national development. In 2008, the Government took over the stake held by the Reserve Bank of India.

Typically, blue is nonthreatening and at the same time signifies both confidence and calm. It is used in the logos of 11 of the Top 20 international banks. Of course, logo color alone cannot explain the reason for the success or failure of an entire financial institution-to suggest so would be ridiculous but there is some truth in the perception that the colour blue in most of its shades works well with bank logos.

State Bank of India logo is in the shape of a key hole (presumably of a locker). This symbolizes security and trust, the two driving principles of banking. In so far as the lettering is concerned – as is the case with almost all the banks – SBI has stuck to the mainstream bold non-serif fonts. However, a point to be noted with State Bank is that it has relied on the blue graphic of the keyhole rather than the fonts to establish its nationwide identity. This is rooted in two to three important challenges faced by the bank.

The first and perhaps the most crucial of all is the absolute pan India presence of the bank with emphasis on rural banking where most of its customers were either illiterate or at best had some facility with the local language. Rather than getting boggled in the vernacular scripts the bank stuck to a symbol that could be understood without any language barrier.

The Logo

Bank logos are designed to portray guardianship of valuables. They use formal and standard fonts which carry the impression of loyalty and trust. The choice of colors in bank logos is limited to black, deep blue and sometimes silver or gold. However red and green can also be included in bank logos.

Original logo before it was redesigned

The second important reason for not emphasizing the lettering was the fact that the associate companies and subsidiary banks had to share the logo along with the name State Bank. There are six associate banks that fall under SBI, and together these six banks constitute the State Bank Group. All use the same logo of a blue keyhole and all the associates use the “State Bank of” name followed by the regional headquarters’ name.

I, with my design associates – had occasion to design a logo for Fidelity Bank in Kenya. Though we stuck to blue, in my opinion blue alone was not exciting enough. We kept to the simplicity of the overall ‘look and feel’ of solid trustworthiness but added red to a solid blue theme to give it energy and dynamism. We chose straight lines and a rectangular frame because of their frugality and conservativeness. In the end, because of the harmony of colour, shape and design the logo did work well for the bank. Incidentally, for their ATMs the State Bank has added a splash of green to the blue in the form of a bold green stripe with the legend State Bank ATM in white letters.

For the Fidelity Bank logo I decided to go in for a rectangle because, as per Vaastu, along with the square, it is the most perfectly balanced shape.

As we were redesigning a logo for an existing bank I was keen to add impact to the graphic by bringing in the letters F & B. This was to impart sophistication to the design as well as establish a strong connect to the Fidelity Bank’s existing personality.

SBI History

State Bank Of India Mumbai Branch

The origin of the State Bank of India goes back to the first decade of the nineteenth century with the establishment of the Bank of Calcutta in Calcutta on 2nd June 1806. Three years later the bank received its charter and was re-designated as the Bank of Bengal. The Bank of Bombay (15th April 1840) and the Bank of Madras (1st July 1843) followed in quick succession. These three banks remained at the apex of modern banking in India till their amalgamation as the Imperial Bank of India on 27th January 1921. The Government of India nationalised the Imperial Bank of India in 1955, with the Reserve Bank of India taking a 60% stake, and renamed it the State Bank of India. At that time the State bank had 480 offices comprising branches, sub offices and three Local Head Offices inherited from the Imperial Bank.