RWE is a German energy company headquartered in Essen, with a history spanning more than 125 years. Its visual identity has undergone several significant transformations, most recently in 2019 when the company repositioned itself around renewable energy and sustainability.
Design and History
The current RWE logo consists of the three capital letters “RWE” in a wordmark that has become “softer and more compact” compared to its predecessor. This design was introduced on 30 September 2019 as part of a broader corporate design overhaul developed by Scholz & Friends Identify. The refresh was intended to support RWE’s strategic realignment toward transformation, innovation and sustainability, while retaining the basic elements of the previous appearance to build a credible bridge between the company’s more than 120 years of history and its modern, friendly future image.[1]
Prior to the 2019 redesign, RWE had used a different identity since 2008. That year, the company introduced the slogan-logo “VoRWEg gehen” (a play on the German phrase “vorweg gehen,” meaning “to lead the way”), which replaced the white hand on a blue background that had been in use since 2000. The 2008 logo was developed by the agency Jung von Matt/Brand Identity and was presented at the company’s annual general meeting in Essen.[2] The hand logo it replaced had been introduced by then-CEO Dietmar Kuhnt and featured the letters RWE alongside the slogan “One Group. Multi Utilities.”[3]
The 2019 redesign kept the wordmark format but made the letterforms rounder and more compact. The corporate colors were expanded to include green and grey, and the overall palette became lighter and friendlier.[4] The new design also introduced two overlapping, constantly changing “energy fields” as additional design elements, which were meant to symbolize transformation and change while demonstrating the importance of energy for society.[1]
Meaning and Symbolism
The 2000 hand logo was explicitly described by the company at the time as symbolizing “humanity to a high degree” while also representing the “multi utility concept with the customer offering everything from one hand.” The five fingers of the hand were said to represent the company’s business divisions: electricity, gas, water, waste disposal and services.[3]
The 2008 “VoRWEg gehen” slogan-logo was tied to the company’s stated positioning: “RWE thinks and goes ahead, RWE takes responsibility, RWE is innovative.”[5]
For the 2019 identity, RWE’s head of corporate communications stated that the new appearance was meant to show that the company stands for “innovation, change, transparency and sustainability,” while credibly linking these statements to the strengths of the previous market appearance, which stood for “stability and security.”[1]
Typography and Design
The 2019 corporate design introduced new typography described as dominated by “clear, geometrical lines.”[4] The logo itself remained a typographic wordmark consisting of the three capital letters RWE, with the letterforms made softer and more compact in the redesign.[1]
RWE’s corporate color palette has historically centered on blue. The 2019 update expanded the palette to include green and grey tones, with the overall effect described as lighter and friendlier than before.[6]
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