A black stone
The story of Alexandre Wollner and Hugo Kovadloff's 1972 logo for Brazilian bank Itaú.
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Banco Itaú began in 1945 under the name Banco Central de Crédito (Central Bank of Credit). This was later changed to Banco Federal de Crédito (Federal Bank of Credit). The bank experienced financial issues and industrialist Olavo Setúbal was asked to help salvage the bank, successfully saving it from growing debt. When his uncle died in 1959, Setúbal became general director.
In 1964, Banco Federal Itaú S.A. merged Banco Federal de Crédito and Banco Itaú, a rural bank belonging to a group that originated in Itaú de Minas. Later that decade, Banco Itaú acquired Banco Sul Americano.
With these mergers and acquisitions came a chaotic corporate image so, when the name was changed to simply Banco Itaú, Alexandre Wollner and Bergmiller were hired by architect Jacob Ruchti to develop a signage system for the new headquarters. Helvetica Bold replaced a logo by legendary Brazilian Aloísio Magalhães. This presented the 'FI’ of Federal Itaú in a distinctive triangular composition.
