Next plc, the British clothing, footwear and home products retailer, has used a typographic wordmark as its core brand identifier since the company’s earliest days. The current identity, introduced in 2022, is an all-caps wordmark that replaced a lowercase version used since 2007.
Design and History
Next’s visual identity has undergone several distinct changes. Until circa 1991, the company used a lowercase Courier-style typeface in black against a white background for its logo.[1] In 2007, Next introduced a lowercase version of its logo as part of a brand overhaul designed to make the brand appear more contemporary, announced alongside a £10m advertising campaign and store refurbishment program.[2]
In March 2022, Next began rolling out a new logo as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations. The lowercase lettering that had been seen since 2007 was dropped in favour of a new bold capitalised font.[3] The new logo first appeared on corporate material and new store fronts, including the flagship store on Oxford Street, and was slowly rolled out across all 500 Next stores with the process expected to be complete before the end of the year. Price labels, garment tags and carrier bags were also rebranded once old stock had been used up.[4]
Meaning and Symbolism
Next’s official brand guidelines describe the logotype as being “at the heart of our brand,” representing “who we are and what we stand for.” The guidelines characterise it as “confident, yet trustworthy and human, fashionable yet timeless.”[5]
Typography and Design
According to Next’s official brand guidelines, the logotype is derived from the company’s own typeface, NEXT Display Sans. This sans serif font was created exclusively for Next, set in six weights with over 150 glyphs. An extended version of the font was created with wider, sharper edged characters, “much like the NEXT logo.”[5]
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