Established in 1879, and based in Athens with over two hundred branches across Greece, Alpha Bank is a universal bank that's particularly renowned for its strong focus on personal service, relationship-based banking, and a proven strength in wealth management and private banking. In recent years the bank has focussed on innovations in digital banking.

Alpha Bank has played an important part of Greek society, especially when it comes to its sponsorship of and role in preserving Greek culture and heritage. In particular, it has an extensive art and numismatic collection. It was a silver coin in this collection that formed the inspiration for the original Alpha Bank logo introduced in 1972. The silver stater of Aegina was the first silver coin to be used in the markets of the Mediterranean and the East, and Aegina was also the first city-state in the Greek world and in Europe to mint its own coins.

The ancient coin was again the source of inspiration when the team at Pentagram was asked by Alpha Bank to design its new identity system. The new brand identity needed to respect the bank’s history, while strengthening its identity and maintaining its competitive position as it responds to changing customer expectations. It had to appeal to everyone from young professionals to the most affluent customers, as well as its wider societal and institutional stakeholders. It also needed to reflect Alpha Bank’s wider ambition to modernise the business.

With brand strategy and narrative by Simple Revolution, the new brand positioning centres on the brand idea of “Building progress, together”, and introduces the bank’s new campaign line “A new together”. Both are designed to reinforce a new futureproof identity created to feel human and contemporary while still remaining trustworthy and reliable.

With the new, redrawn version of the symbol, the team retained the simple understated elegance of the central axis detail of the silver stater. This is surrounded by an expressive roundel framing the axis, preserving the original coin's subtle historical asymmetries. The symbol lies at the heart of the identity, and everything stems from this, including the wordmark, custom typeface, icon suite, signage, floor numbers and brand patterns. 

The wordmark takes its form from the custom Alpha Sans typeface developed with Tom Baber. Also inspired by the Alpha Bank symbol, the five weight typeface has been designed in both Greek and Latin versions. The secondary typeface Alpha Text is a functional typeface used for copy at smaller sizes.

The enhanced colour palette centres around the existing Alpha Blue, alongside white and Galazio Blue. These are joined by secondary colours including Thalassi Turquoise, Heritage Pink and Alpha Gold, with different colours used to represent the various sub brands (such as Business or Private banking). Five bright additional colours are used for digital application elements such as info graphics. 

The team also created a series of abstract and logo patterns based on elements of the Alpha Bank symbol, and the wordmark. Designed to bring the identity to life, these are used to create visual interest and elevate the brand where a more playful approach is appropriate. Patterns can be used to cover large areas as big graphic expressions, through to small textural repeats where subtlety is required.

A series of brand icons were carefully crafted to align to the new symbol. Designed to be used across multiple communications and at different scales from large graphic elements, down to small functional digital applications, these form an integral part of the new brand identity.

The brand imagery is also an important part of the identity. Capturing everyday moments, and focussing on people and their surroundings, each image feels relatable, positive and connected to real life. Depth-of-field is used to ensure clarity, this helps to tell a clear story and allows the viewer to feel immersed in the scene. This stylistic approach is applied across all imagery, day or night, people or landscapes. 

Branch design was developed with Dalziel & Pow translating the new identity and brand vision into a fresh approach to the bank’s branch experience. The first expression of the new retail experience is Alpha Bank’s branch in Kolonaki, Athens’ luxury retail and cultural quarter. The new branch design reimagines the traditional banking environment as a warmer, more personal and contemporary experience.

Drawing on Alpha Bank’s rich visual heritage, and working alongside Alpha Bank’s senior management team, Pentagram has created a distinctive and flexible identity that brings greater consistency across the business, from digital communications to its physical spaces. Rooted in the bank’s history, the new design system provides a coherent visual language that can adapt to its different audiences and services, while still supporting its ambitions for the future.