Kaiser Permanente Logo

Kaiser Permanente is a private, not-for-profit company. One of the largest health insurance companies in the US serves around 10 million people. They offer a variety of plan types, but they primarily focus on their HMO product. The insurance company has its own medical facilities and hires its own doctors and specialists, which helps it keep the costs down.

Meaning and History

The company was founded in 1945 by Henry J. Kaiser and Sidney Garfield, a young innovative surgeon. The organization was created to provide workers who were building the Colorado River Aqueduct access to healthcare. The insurance companies were not quick to pay Dr. Garfield for his medical services to the sick and injured workers. So, Harold Hatch, an engineer and insurance agent, suggested prepaid insurance plans. The company was named after Henry J. Kaiser, an industrialist, who formed a partnership with Dr. Garfield and used his system to provide healthcare to over 30,000 workers.

What is Kaiser Permanente?
Kaiser Permanente is not just a health insurance company, but rather a managed care organization where consumers can purchase health insurance and receive care at one of its hospitals and health centers. Unlike other organizations, the company pays its doctors a fixed salary rather than a wage based on the number of patients.

1991 – 1998

Designed for the organization in the early 90s, the logo consisted of a large initial and the full name. The latter had all uppercase characters that were interconnected in some places, flowing one into the other.  The strokes had very interesting and unusual turns and connection points that gave the logo a lot of personality. The initial was formed from four black lines of different thicknesses. The star of this logo is an abstract silhouette of a human drawn from the waist and up and having the hands raised. The body of the silhouette was placed between the vertical line of the “K” and the bottom leg, while the left hand ran along the other leg. It was a great symbol for a company that had taken care of people as its main goal.

1998 – 1999

The updated logo was still done in a black-and-white, but the font used in this logo had more rounded strokes, mainly the letter “E”. This update alone gave the logo a very welcoming appearance. The initial with a human silhouette was replaced by a silhouette of three people right next to each other, symbolizing a family. The white sun with multiple thin, sharp sun rays in the front symbolizes joy, harmony, and well-being. Despite this update, the logo looked very recognizable.

1999 – Today

The company continued to use its rather simple and at the same time meaningful logo. Essentially, the modification introduced on the eve of the new century was the color that gave the logo more life and cheerfulness. In addition, the blue silhouettes behind the sun somewhat resembled the blue sky. The name was also done using the same blue color and also featured another font. It had more straight lies and created a more confident brand image. In addition, such a logo was much easier to read.

Font and Color

The logo designed in the early 1990s featured a rounded, geometric sans-serif font. For its next logo, the company used a font that was similar in style to Rexlia Regular by Typodermic. It also had some of the characters flow one into the other, which created a very friendly and welcoming brand image, suitable for a healthcare company. The most recent logo features another custom sans-serif font that resembles Kohinoor Latin Medium font by Indian Type Foundry.

For many years, the company used a black as the main color with a white base. These colors are a perfect combination that brings out the best of the two. This combination is used by many well-known brands across the globe to create an image of a strong, powerful, and reliable company. The blue color, which was introduced later, has various meanings. In India, for instance, it represents truth, mercy, and love, which is very relatable to a company that provides health services. Typically, though, the color is associated with peace, stability, and trust.