The Verdict: Koto crafts a new identity Huntington can bank on

About the work

Originally a regional bank headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Huntington opted to venture beyond the American Midwest, aiming to become a national powerhouse. With over 150 years of heritage, the rebranding project by Koto needed to build on the company’s existing customer base while also successfully attracting a new generation of customers.

By positioning Huntington between fintechs and traditional banks as a ‘sophisticated’ alternative, Koto devised “Abundance is a Craft” as the new brand idea. The international creative agency kept Huntington’s people-first philosophy in mind, while also leveraging historic brand elements including type and iconography, when crafting its new identity.

Crucial to the updated brand is its bespoke Huntington Serif typeface. Elegant in nature, it’s accompanied by a clean and functional ABC Monument Grotesk that excels online.

The new wordmark, which includes new letterforms, represents trust, structure and upward movement. The addition of the optimistic and vibrant Huntington Abundant Green – along with its Dark Teal and Magenta and Teal accents – support these new additions, hoping to add a human touch to the brand.

Elsewhere, new iconography – which includes its 3D ‘achievement seals’ – adds a finesse, while the motion language underscores Huntington's credentials of being a bank that truly cares about the customer.

Ru Soylu, client director at Koto, says, “Our role was to translate Huntington’s legacy into something that could carry them confidently into the next chapter. This wasn’t about inventing a new story, but about revealing the values already embedded in the company, and making them resonate with a broader, more modern audience.

“‘Abundance is a Craft’ gave us a lens to talk about wealth in a way that feels personal, grounded, and optimistic. It helped shift the brand from transactional to intentional, without losing its core of trust and care.”

Peer review:

Dante Romano, founder and chief creative officer, Rowe

I think it’s a smart and confident shift in visual language. It clearly speaks to today’s diverse spectrum of customers, ranging from serious, established investors to younger, everyday bankers. The new typography is especially compelling, bringing it to life through motion and grounding that motion in historic typographic references, which is a clever and thoughtful nod to Huntington’s legacy without feeling nostalgic or dated.

The refreshed colour palette feels more vibrant and digitally fluent, which helps the brand show up with clarity and distinction across modern platforms. It creates a system that can flex across different audiences and services while still feeling cohesive. The achievement iconography is more understated, but it complements the new UX interface well, supporting usability without competing for attention. Overall, it’s a savvy, effective evolution that balances heritage with forward momentum.

Claudia Mark, partner and head of creative, Agenda

Huntington’s brand update feels driven by the right instincts. There’s a clear desire to modernise without abandoning the rich visual language of the bank’s legacy, and that restraint is refreshing in an environment that is often chasing whatever looks most ‘techy’ at the moment. The system acknowledges digital transformation without letting it dominate the story, which gives the brand a sense of credibility and longevity.

The custom typography does a lot of the heavy lifting. It’s refined and intentional, immediately elevating a brand that previously felt pedestrian. In its best moments, the type signals a fresh confidence rather than disruption for disruption’s sake.

Where the brand stumbles is in some of the more expressive executions. The curved type treatments feel under-resolved, drifting into 90s WordArt territory. They pull focus from the sophistication and craft the brand is otherwise working hard to establish.

This refresh is frustratingly close to being excellent. The foundation is strong, the intent is smart, but a few executional choices keep it from fully delivering on its promise.

Shivam Sinha, senior designer, Work & Co

Koto’s rebrand of Huntington Bank stands out for embracing a sense of play in a category that typically equates rigidity with trust. The evolved ‘H’ and honeycomb system introduce warmth, rhythm and moments of delight – a refreshing departure from the stiff, overly serious language most banks default to.

Having navigated the obsessive craft of Apple and the narrative-led systems of Pentagram, I find the modularity here particularly impressive; it balances high-level utility with genuine delight. Now working squarely in the product design space, I’m increasingly convinced that modern brand systems must do more than signal trust – they need to actively make people’s lives simpler, clearer and occasionally even enjoyable. The Koto work scales confidently across physical and digital touchpoints, reinforcing consistency without feeling mechanical.

My critique is less about the visual language and more about voice: at times it retreats into polite genericness, where a sharper editorial stance could better match the bold, behavioural promise of the design. Still, it’s a rare banking identity that feels optimistic, human and quietly distinctive.

Sam Houle, creative director, Siegel+Gale

Huntington’s redesign centers on the strategic idea “Money as craft.” While the stated strategy aims to move the brand into a place of artistry and humanity, the brand expression over-indexes on paying homage.

The colour story dilutes their well-established green world with the new assortment of hues. This visual juxtaposition relies on the typeface to bridge these gaps, drawing inspiration from historic bank notes and placing them in arched, waved and curved layouts. It’s clear they are trying to find humanity in a world of AI but have undercut those efforts by creating an automated typographic tool.

While making intentional decisions to pull modern inspiration, the result doesn’t feel integrated into the style of craft they’ve created. Positively, the 3D badges echo the hexagonal shape language of the brand symbol.

Though this doesn’t achieve the balance I yearn for, it’s possible, given enough time and refinement, that these elements do come together in a more satisfying harmony. I look forward to seeing how the brand invests and pushes further into craftsmanship and an authenticity that only an artful hand can bring to this digital world.