Subway Logo in 2020: Comparing It with Earlier Designs
A visual comparison of the Subway logo as used in 2020 against earlier versions, covering typography, color, arrows, spacing and practical implications for vector logo use.
Contents
What is the essential answer about the Subway logo in 2020?
The Subway logo in 2020 is the simplified wordmark introduced in 2016 and still in active brand use during that year. It consists of the word "SUBWAY" set in a custom bold sans-serif typeface, with the first and last letters featuring pointed arrow-shaped terminals. The most commonly seen 2020 version places a green wordmark above a yellow wordmark, with each version slightly offset to create a shallow drop-shadow or layered effect. Informally, people often refer to the combined green and yellow arrangement as the 2020 Subway logo, but the update itself is a wordmark redesign rather than a new pictorial emblem.
How did this logo develop, and what explains its design?
The 2016 redesign, which remained current in 2020, removed the heavy green outline and yellow fill treatment that had long framed the Subway wordmark. The previous logo used a chunky green border around yellow letterforms, with an italicized or forward-leaning posture. In the newer design, the letters became upright and cleaner, with tighter internal spacing and flattened arrow terminals. Subway described the change as a move toward a fresher, simpler and more contemporary identity. The visual result is less dimensional and more modular than the outlined version, which makes the wordmark easier to reproduce across digital menus, mobile ordering screens, packaging and store signage.
The arrows at the opening and closing of the wordmark remain a defining device. The first "S" terminates in an arrow pointing right, while the final "Y" extends into an arrow pointing left. This mirrored arrow structure echoes the earlier logo rather than replacing it. What changed most is the elimination of the thick outer contour and the shift from a yellow-inside-green-outside color scheme to separate solid-color wordmark layers.
What meaningful differences separate the 2020 logo from earlier designs?
The comparison can be organized around geometry, typography, color, spacing and asset editability.
| Criterion|Earlier outlined logo|2020 simplified logo |
| Geometry|Unified negative space created by a heavy outline around the letters; arrows read as part of the enclosing shape.|Flat solid letters; arrows are integrated directly into the terminal strokes without an outer boundary. |
| Typography|Bold, rounded letterforms with a forward slant and visible outline.|Upright custom sans-serif with slightly narrower proportions and cleaner terminals. |
| Color|Yellow letters inside a green outline; strong contrast between fill and border.|Solid green wordmark layered above a solid yellow wordmark; no outline around individual letters. |
| Spacing|Tighter look created by the outline merging the letters into one block.|Clear letter separation and a more open, modular rhythm. |
| Asset editability|Harder to separate into clean layers because outline and fill were part of one composite shape.|Easier to use as flat vector objects; the green and yellow versions can be selected independently when working with properly constructed art files. |
Practical implications for vector logo use
For small sizes, the simplified version generally holds up better because there is no thick outline closing off counters or shrinking the apparent size of the yellow interior. The earlier outlined mark can become visually dense when scaled down, especially in single-color reproduction. For large-format use, both versions are readable, but the earlier logo has a heavier retail-signage presence while the newer version feels lighter and more digital-first.
The choice between versions should depend on the intended use. If the priority is a clean, flexible asset for app icons, web headers or embroidered applications, the simplified version is the more practical reference. If the priority is recreating the familiar storefront identity of the early 2000s, the outlined version is the appropriate model. These recommendations are conditional on reproduction context rather than a claim that one version is universally superior.
Gaps and cautions
No supplied evidence includes an official style guide, vector source file, designer credit or dated press release from Subway for the 2016 redesign. The observable differences are reliable, but any statement about internal design motivation beyond Subway's public simplification language should be treated as interpretation. The presence of a file with a vector extension also does not by itself prove that the logo geometry was built as clean outlines or that reuse is permitted. Availability of a logo file is not evidence of permission to use the trademark.