Banca Transilvania (also known as BT) is the leading Romanian bank founded with private capital. Established in 1994 by a small team in the city of Cluj (in the heart of Transylvania), the bank kept on growing by expanding nationally to over 550 branches and becoming the bank of choice for the enterprising people. After a great business year in 2015, and preparing for future developments, the refreshment of the brand was deemed relevant both for the organisation and the external stakeholders. Whilst aiming to fix issues of visibility, modernisation and consistency along all brand manifestations, the 2016 rebranding set out to better signalize the new stage and status of the brand. 

The main challenge was to preserve the brand equity accumulated by the ‘shield’ symbol and other brand property elements — while introducing a new spirit of dynamism and increasing brand visibility. At the same time, the holistic brand redesign had to protect the profound level of organizational identification with the brand, as assessed by a comprehensive brand audit. Concurrently, the redesign was inspired by the brand’s positive perceptions: BT is perceived as “the authentic Romanian bank”, “the bank dedicated to the Romanian entrepreneurial spirit”.

Like any corporate identity facelift — especially those comprising retail elements — this was a delicate job of seamlessly inserting new meanings, optimizing the identity system to work on a whole different scale and upgrading the elements that can be changed without destroying the brand equity.

The shield monogram was updated to include a tricolor with each color modulated to give an appearance of light, perspective and volume, while its newly simplified contour would streamline the high volume signage production. The color palette, inspired by the national colors, became part of the new identity, honoring both the Romanian entrepreneurial roots of the bank and the vast social significance of its resolute business focus: “The bank for enterprising people”.

A series of graphic devices were designed to complete the visual vocabulary and cover various communication situations: a dynamic strip able to accommodate new communication opportunities as they arise, digital and signage icons, a unified system of buttons, etc. The typography system was overhauled based on Meta Serif, a robust building block able to inspire and sustain order, especially when constructing large identity systems intended to work in demanding environments.

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