Opinion BY Armin

Bank of Melbourne, Redux

We will be closing this week with yet another Australian brand. (I swear I didn’t plan it this way!). The Bank of Melbourne is the second coming of, well, the Bank of Melbourne. Its first iteration came in 1989 when the Bank of Melbourne became the first bank to open in many decades and went up against the “Big Four” banks until 1997 when one of those big players, Westpac, purchased and closed it. This August, Westpac will be re-launching Bank of Melbourne as a subsidiary and, in turn, it will replace all the branches of another Westpac subsidiary, St George, which has a bigger presence and association with Sydney — and if Brand New has taught me anything, it is that Melbourne and Sydney go together like Mentos and Diet Coke, it’s explosive. A new logo for Bank of Melbourne was unveiled earlier this month.

@BankofMelb Twitter icon.

It’s nice.

Okay, while I did consider leaving my review at that, I do think this is nice. I’m not exactly sure if there is a specific meaning for the shape that relates to either Melbourne or Victoria, although it seems to capitalize on the City of Melbourne trend of diamond-like shapes and paneling, except this is the conservative spin on that aesthetic. It has a bold, shield-ish quality to it that makes it feel like a trusted bank. The typography is competent, if a little tightly kerned, and I love the use of dark backgrounds that help the icon look shiny.

Thanks to Googe Farrugia for the tip.

Many thanks to our ADV @ UnderConsideration Partners