Sainsbury’s is a British supermarket chain founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury and his wife Mary Ann, who opened their first shop in London’s Drury Lane. The company’s visual identity has evolved through several distinct phases, with the current orange wordmark tracing its origins to a major rebrand in 1999.
Design and History
In 1960, Sainsbury’s introduced a modern-looking logo: an orange wordmark in capital letters that simply read “Sainsbury’s.” This design remained unchanged for the next 39 years. [1]
The pivotal rebrand came in 1999. Sainsbury’s unveiled a new corporate image on 7 June 1999, developed by design and strategy consultants 20/20, with the advertising campaign created by M&C Saatchi. [2] The new identity, which took two years to develop, introduced a new rendering of the Sainsbury’s wordmark in a different shade of orange. [3] The campaign carried the strapline “Making life taste better.” [4]
The 1999 identity was described as Sainsbury’s first fundamental rebrand since the 1970s. [5] The new logo was a hand-drawn type by 20/20, replacing the previous all-caps wordmark with a lowercase treatment intended to look friendlier. [1]
In 2013, Sainsbury’s refined the logo designed in 1999, slightly altering the shade of orange and adding a thin wavy line in the same color beneath the wordmark for advertising purposes. [6]
Meaning and Symbolism
The 1999 rebrand introduced “Living Orange” as Sainsbury’s corporate color, replacing the previous hue that staff reportedly called “dying orange.” The new color was offset by a dark blue. [1] The orange logo was applied across all Sainsbury’s materials, including carrier bags and trucks. [7]
Sainsbury’s current brand guidelines reference multiple logo variants, including a masterbrand logo and a version paired with the brand promise “Helping everyone eat better,” which is used when that promise is relevant and legally applicable. [8]
Typography and Design
As part of the 1999 identity, Interstate became Sainsbury’s official typeface, while the logo itself was set in a hand-drawn type created by 20/20. [1] The wordmark’s lowercase letterforms and the distinctive rendering of the possessive apostrophe-s distinguish it from the earlier all-caps treatment.
Logo Index is an independent educational archive covering logos, visual identities and graphic design history. All trademarks and brand assets remain the property of their respective owners.
