A fresh & youthful appeal
Yūsaku Kamekura's 1979 logo for Fuji Bank
In an attempt to restore its preeminence, having been usurped from the top position by Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (DKB), Fuji Bank agreed to merge with Osaka-based Sanwa Bank in the late 1970s. However, the merger failed to win approval from the Ministry of Finance. Following this, the bank sought another approach to reaffirm its position. Part of this was to develop a new logo and corporate image.
Fuji Bank’s logo, created by renowned Japanese designer Yūsaku Kamekura, is based on the form of Mt. Fuji. This was a requirement laid down by Art Director Tatsu Matsumoto and the director of Fuji Bank.
Kamekura noted in his book “The Works of Yūsaku Kamekura” that, at the time, he was initially overwhelmed by the design challenge as Mt. Fuji was difficult to shape because, when drawn, it becomes profane. However, Kamekura accepted the commission and created a simple logo depicting Mt. Fuji as an outline which was set within a square of equal line weight.
A coloured background–one-third blue and two-thirds green–intended to give the logo a “freshness” and “youthfulness”. This dual coloured band would extend laterally across different contexts such as credit cards, passbook and signage to form part of Fuji Bank's new corporate identity. This colour pairing varied slightly across use-cases. Above is the logo presented as a PMS to hex conversion, the closest possible digital realisation.
As Yūsaku Kamekura later recounted, despite his initial trepidation about diminishing the spiritual power of Mt. Fuji, the logo and corporate image was well-received and the bank was pleased. Following the introduction of the logo and new design policy customer deposits increased.
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