Warner Records Inc. is the American record label formerly known as Warner Bros. Records, founded in March 1958 as a division of Warner Bros. Pictures. The label operated under its parent company’s shield logo for over six decades until a 2019 rebrand introduced a new name and a completely new visual identity developed with the design studio Pentagram.[1]
Design and History
Warner Bros. Records adopted the Warner Bros. Pictures “shield” logo when it was founded in 1958 and used it continuously for 61 years. When Warner Music Group was sold by Time Warner in 2004, it was agreed that Warner Bros. Records would continue to use the Warner Bros. name and logo for 15 years.[1] That agreement expired in 2019, and on May 28, 2019, the label announced it was being rebranded as Warner Records across the globe.[2]
The name change coincided with the label’s move from its longtime headquarters in Burbank, California, to a new location in downtown Los Angeles’ Arts District.[3] According to the label’s co-chairmen at the time, Aaron Bay-Schuck and Tom Corson, the rebrand marked “the first time in the label’s history” that it had “the opportunity to create a distinct, modern identity entirely of our own.”[1]
The new Warner Records brand identity and logo were developed in partnership with Emily Oberman and her team at Pentagram.[4] Pentagram’s project for the label encompassed brand strategy and positioning, naming, messaging and digital design.[5]
Meaning and Symbolism
The new logo features a circular icon that the label’s announcement describes as “suggesting a record, a sun, and a globe,” described as “a nod to the label’s past, present, and future.”[1] Pentagram notes that the circular shape “evokes a record, a sun, and a globe” and can be used as a lens or frame for a variety of content.[5]
The identity highlights the label’s Los Angeles roots, with the disk and wordmark both sliced at the bottom, “suggesting a horizon line or a sunrise or sunset.”[5] The rebrand also introduced a new tagline, “Born in the California sun, at home everywhere on earth,” which emphasizes the label’s California and L.A. roots.[5]
According to the label’s announcement, “the openness of the design gives it the flexibility to embrace all Warner Records artists and all genres of music around the world.”[1]
Typography and Design
Pentagram states that the wordmark is set in Sharp Sans, a typeface used for the Warner Records logotype.[5] The label’s announcement described the new logo as having “artful simplicity and impactful typography that are ideally suited to the digital world.”[1]
Pentagram’s project team for the Warner Records identity included Todd Goldstein, Lorenzo Fanton, Matt Varner and Lisa Grant, working out of the studio’s New York office.[5]
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