One brand for Rakuten

Rakuten is Japan's leading e-commerce company, but has developed into a diversified Internet giant with multiple businesses around the world. If you are on Honshu, it is effectively the equivalent of Amazon.com. On July 2, the company launched a company-wide rebrand with a new logo.

Rakuten adopted its distinctive symbol featuring an R in circle in 2005, later adopting a version in the Roman alphabet. The new one features an underline, derived from the Japanese letter ichi, which means "one". The wordmark from the old logo has been reused and made somewhat taller. The "circle R" takes a back seat, but is still used in certain situations when an icon is needed.

Previous logo.

The adoption on the new logo was announced on June 26 ahead of the launch on July 2. The new logo had however been preliminary introduced last year as part of the company's sponsorship of FC Barcelona.

2005 logo.

Logo evolution (1997, 1999, 2005, 2012).

The design of the new logo includes the addition of the Japanese character for “one," or "ichi." This character symbolizes Rakuten’s ambition to take on the next challenge, and encompasses the four themes below:

“A New Start” - We are at the start line of a new stage, a new challenge.

“Unity” - Group companies and partners big and small will be unified as one team to tackle the tasks.

“Be the Best” - Among corporate organizations, Rakuten will be the best at contributing to the happiness of our users, partners, communities and people all over the world.

“Only One” - The only company that will enhance the unique characteristics of our partners as we empower them, extend the spirit of Omotenashi (Japanese hospitality) to users by providing happiness in diverse aspects of life, and build an eco-system that will make all this possible.

The new and sharper logo design represents Rakuten’s ability to move with speed, to stay ahead of the times and to be innovative in the face of rapid change, for both internal and external stakeholders.

Individual colors have been selected for each service to express the distinct characteristics of each service and highlight the diversity of the Group as a whole, as well as conveying happiness and our optimism for the future. - Rakuten press release

New logos for subbrands.

Rakuten brand page
Rakuten brand page 2