United Banks of Colorado was a Denver-based bank holding company that operated from the 1960s until its merger into Norwest Corp. in 1991. The company’s visual identity is documented through a federal trademark registration filed in 1982, which provides the most reliable record of its logo design.
Design and History
The United Banks of Colorado logo was registered as a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on March 22, 1983, under registration number 1232191. The trademark application was filed on June 3, 1982, with a first use date of May 13, 1982, indicating the mark was introduced that year. The registration was owned by United Banks of Colorado, Inc., based in Denver, Colorado, and was filed in the category of insurance and financial services. The trademark was later cancelled as of December 27, 2003, following the company’s earlier merger into Norwest Corp. in April 1991.[1][2]
The company itself was formed in 1964, when what was then the Denver-U.S. National Bank created a holding company that ultimately became United Banks of Colorado.[3] The holding company grew to control 40 banks before being merged into Norwest Corp. on April 19, 1991, adding approximately $5.5 billion in assets to Norwest’s Community Banking Group.[4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The trademark record describes the logo’s design element as “incomplete circles (more than semi-circles),” which is the official USPTO classification for the mark’s visual form.[1] Beyond this official description, no documented interpretation of the symbol’s meaning has been located in available sources. The design’s geometric form is consistent with corporate identity work of the early 1980s, but no designer or agency attribution for this specific mark has been verified in the research materials reviewed.
Logo Index is an independent educational archive covering logos, visual identities and graphic design history. All trademarks and brand assets remain the property of their respective owners.
