Amazon has a new logo (but you probably didn’t notice)

Amazon has undergone a major aesthetic overhaul, combining over 50 sub-brands to form one unified brand identity. Spanning 15 global markets, Amazon's new branding is a concise and considered update that demonstrates how stripping back to the basics creates a reinvigorated sense of authority (while still maintaining that signature smile).

For a while, Amazon had suffered from success, scaling at a rapid rate but unable to keep a consistent brand ecosystem, leading to a fragmented identity. With a new refined logo design, colour palette, typography, and visuals, the brand's much-needed transformation is flexible enough to keep up with Amazon's evolution, built with a timelessness to carry it into the future.

Created by branding agency Koto, Amazon's new global brand identity is shaped by its revitalised logo – the first new design in 20 years. Symbolising its diverse offerings spanning from A to Z, the Amazon logo is often praised for its clever design and signature grin. The new look maintains the classic look, with subtle tweaks to refine its appeal, such as a "deeper and more emphatic smile" and sharpened emphasis on the swooping arrow motif.

Across the brand transformation, the new visuals create a sense of cohesion through a simplified visual ecosystem. Each logo has been tweaked to ensure brand consistency, and the new custom font, Amazon Logo Sans, creates a scalable and consistent look across each sub-brand. To simplify things further, each brand has been separated into 'cohorts' – like-minded brand pillars that help to categorise Amazon's vast array of sub-brands.

Evolving Amazon's original typeface, Ember, the brand's new font is an adaptable option that maintains the master brand's clean and contemporary aesthetic. Originally made for Kindle, the team discovered that Ember wasn't adaptable enough to be a core font, often leading to disjointed replacement fonts across brands. To target this, Koto developed Ember Modern – a flexible font suitable for all brand movements, from high-impact marketing to practical displays. The typographic system includes support for 364 languages, allowing Amazon's brand to shine beyond linguistic boundaries.

The reimagined visuals are accompanied by a refined colour palette centring around Amazon's signature 'Smile Orange' and Prime's vivid digital blue. A suite of comprehensive iconography brings a visual cohesion to Amazon's brand, unifying inconsistencies while adapting to fit small and large scale branding.

The new look has already begun appearing across "digital screens, delivery vans, staff uniforms, packaging, "and even race cars," but you'd be forgiven if you haven't even noticed – that's precisely the point. A subtle yet necessary evolution, Amazon's new global brand transformation brings the brand into a new era of authority without rewriting its legacy – a prime example of a seamless brand metamorphosis.

Check out Koto's case study to find out more about Amazon's new identity. If you're after more creative inspiration from the branding studio, check out its 50th anniversary Microsoft campaign or take a look at its unique creative hub, Seasoned, which offers creative advice from Koto's branding experts.