REWE is a German retail and tourism cooperative group headquartered in Cologne. Its visual identity has two distinct layers: the corporate REWE Group umbrella mark and the consumer-facing REWE supermarket logo, each with its own documented history.
Design and History
The REWE trademark was created by German graphic designer Anton Stankowski, whose studio produced logos for Deutsche Bank, REWE and the Olympic Congress Baden-Baden after Karl Duschek joined the studio.[1] The Stankowski Foundation confirms that the REWE trademark is among the designer’s well-known corporate signs, alongside those for Deutsche Bank and Viessmann.[2] A retrospective review of Stankowski’s work notes that REWE used the logo for nearly forty years before deciding on a redesign that “perhaps even radicalized” Stankowski’s original concept.[3]
In January 2006, REWE introduced a new umbrella brand logo and the new name “REWE GROUP,” a move the company described as a “sign for a fundamental repositioning.”[4] The 2006 corporate mark featured a red square representing food retail and a yellow square representing tourism, as explained by then-CEO Achim Egner.[5]
In April 2019, REWE Group presented its annual results for 2018, and photographs from the company headquarters in Cologne show both an old and a new REWE Group logo hanging side by side at the event.[6]
Meaning and Symbolism
Documented color symbolism for the REWE Group mark comes from the 2006 introduction, when the red square was explicitly tied to the food retail business and the yellow square to the tourism business.[5] A contemporary report from the same period quotes Egner explaining that the logo “concisely reflects our core business: red represents food retail, yellow represents tourism.”[7]
Typography and Design
REWE Group maintains a formal corporate identity system. In 2016, the company launched an online CI-Net portal that consolidated its design guidelines, including specifications for logo placement, colors and fonts.[8] The corporate house font for print and digital media was defined as “Trade Gothic Next,” while presentations and email signatures use “Calibri.”[9]
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