Wilko, the British high-street retailer formerly known as Wilkinson, uses a typographic wordmark in red and white. The current identity dates from 2015, when the company formally adopted the Wilko name that had previously appeared on its own-brand products. The wordmark is set in lowercase letters and includes a distinctive full stop, or tittle, after the “o.”
Design and History
Wilkinson’s earliest known logo was introduced in 1977 and remained largely unchanged until 2009. In January 2009, the company updated its brand identity, adopting deep red shop fascias with white lettering. The 2009 rebrand was designed by Jupiter Creative and was showcased in new-format stores in Thornaby and Northallerton. [1]
In 2015, the company abbreviated its name to Wilko, a name it had previously used for its own-brand products, and shifted to an even deeper red. [2] The Wilko name was then applied to the entire company. [1]
In November 2021, Wilko began a brand portfolio refresh with creative agency Free The Birds. The project unified Wilko’s own-label lines under the same identity for the first time, covering brand architecture, packaging design, typography, illustration, tone of voice, and photography. The refreshed packaging featured Wilko’s logo at the top with the product name below, and the classic tittle from the main logo was replicated across all category labels to convey a sense of unity. [3] [4]
Earlier, in 2020, Free The Birds had designed a “Tree of Life” logo for Wilko’s plastic-free wipes ranges, using an image intended to represent nature and durability while signposting the retailer’s plastic-free credentials. [5]
Meaning and Symbolism
The current Wilko wordmark is a typographic identity that places the brand name at the center of the visual system. The lowercase lettering and the distinctive tittle after the “o” serve as recurring brand elements, with the tittle replicated across packaging labels to unify the product range under the main logo. [3] [4]
The red color scheme has been a defining element of the identity since at least the 2009 rebrand, when Wilkinson adopted deep red fascias with white lettering, a palette that became even more pronounced when the company shifted to the Wilko name in 2015. [2]
Typography and Design
The Wilko wordmark uses lowercase lettering with a full stop, or tittle, following the “o.” Free The Birds, which led the 2021 brand portfolio refresh, described the challenge as elevating and evolving Wilko’s brand identity to reflect product attributes of durability, ease of use, performance, and accessibility. The agency developed three overarching design structures, “Core,” “Core Light,” and “Core Plus,” to help customers distinguish different product ranges. [3] [4]
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