Hitachi, Ltd. (日立製作所) is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, founded in 1910 by engineer Namihei Odaira. The company name combines two kanji characters, hi meaning “sun” and tachi meaning “rise,” which Odaira superimposed and enclosed in a circle to form the company’s original mark.[1]
Design and History
On April 1, 2025, Hitachi unveiled a new brand design, modernizing its visual identity for the first time in 25 years.[2] The refresh was built around six design assets: a simplified logo, a new color palette, a bespoke typeface, imagery guidelines, graphic textures, and template layouts.[2] A key goal of the redesign was to unify the brand so that all Hitachi Group companies adopt the same “Hitachi” logo.[3]
The 2025 update retained the black sans-serif “HITACHI” wordmark that had been in use since 1992, while removing the “Inspire the Next” tagline that had accompanied it.[4] The company described the new visual identity as reflecting its transformation toward “True One Hitachi,” with digital at its core.[3]
Earlier in the company’s history, founder Namihei Odaira created the original trademark before the company was formally established, using the two kanji characters for “sun” and “rise” enclosed in a circle.[1] The logo evolved over the decades, with a handwritten signature-style mark used from 1912, a more stable letterform introduced in 1918, and a new international mark launched in 1968 to support global expansion.[4]
In 2009, ahead of the company’s 100th anniversary in 2010, Hitachi created a commemorative logo through an internal competition. The mark treated the “0” in “100” as the “C” in “Century,” with two facing C-shapes connected to express the company continuing into its next century. The logo carried the message “確かな技術でつぎの100年へ” (“With reliable technology toward the next 100 years”).[5]
Typography and Design
As part of the 2025 rebrand, Hitachi developed a bespoke typeface called Hitachi Sans, described by the company as a new font symbolizing its brand identity.[2] The new identity also introduced 3D tonal textures inspired by the brand’s origins and precision engineering expertise, available in Red and Neutral styles for use as static and moving backdrops.[3] The background designs, built around red and white tones, incorporate three-dimensional lines that express the origins of the Hitachi brand and its accumulated technology and expertise.[6]
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