Mastercard is removing its name from its logo. It will have a logo that has no writing. Mastercard traditionally used a logo that had overlapping yellow and red circles and the word "Mastercard". It will drop the word "Mastercard" in its new, wordless logo. The new logo will be the symbol on its credit cards, in stores and at sports events. The company said over 80 per cent of people instantly recognized the new logo without the word "Mastercard".
Mastercard did a lot of research on how recognizable the new wordless logo was. It is part of a strategy to move from being a credit card company to a digital payments company. There are many logos that have no words. Apple's bitten apple logo and Nike's swoosh are examples. Logos of smartphone apps are symbols. A design expert said a small logo on a phone or watch needed to be powerful. He said: "A 10-letter name is kind of a monster."