H&R Block is an American tax preparation company founded in 1955 by brothers Henry W. Bloch and Richard Bloch. The company’s visual identity is built around a green square logo that the company itself describes as “iconic” and that serves as the foundation of its visual identity system [1].
Design and History
The current square logo was introduced in 2014, according to H&R Block’s official brand portal [1]. The company name has remained the same since its founding in 1955 [1].
Before the 2014 mark, H&R Block underwent a significant identity revitalization in 2000. Landor Associates of San Francisco created a new corporate identity system anchored by a green block, which the firm described as “an obvious graphic representation of the company’s name” that expressed “the solid relationship between H&R Block and its customers” [2]. The 2000 redesign was the first logo change in more than two decades and featured a large green block with the company name to the right [3]. The redesign was part of a broader brand identity program announced in August 2000, as the company sought to combine a consistent look with a consistent name to define what the brand meant to consumers [3].
Designer Irina Blok, who began her career at Landor Associates as a brand designer, has stated that she helped create and evolve the H&R Block brand during her tenure there [4].
Meaning and Symbolism
H&R Block’s brand identity is rooted in the idea of getting clients “squared away,” a concept that the design firm Siegel+Gale used as the foundation for a refreshed visual identity built around the existing square logo [5]. The square logo itself was described by Landor Associates as a graphic representation of the company’s name, expressing a solid relationship between the company and its customers [2].
H&R Block has trademarked its green square to prevent other companies from using it to sell tax preparation software [6].
Typography and Design
H&R Block’s official brand portal specifies the company’s brand font as Graphik, a geometric sans-serif typeface described as having “elegant neutrality” with low contrast and a large x-height [7]. The brand portal provides weights including Regular, Medium, Semibold, and Bold [7].
The official logo color, designated “Logo Green,” is specified as Hex #14AA40, Pantone 2422C, RGB 20, 170, 64, and CMYK 87, 0, 100, 0 [7]. The brand portal notes that this logo green is not used as part of the overarching design color palette but provides the values for proper logo reproduction [7].
The brand portal also documents a newer “global green” (Hex #005D1F, Pantone 349C) that anchors the shared color palette across H&R Block, Block Advisors, and Spruce brands. This darker green was chosen to meet AAA accessibility requirements while maintaining the equity the company has in green [7].
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