Oxford Street brand identity: Koto gives the traffic-free street its first ever brand

Oxford Street has its first ever brand identity. Created by Koto with the Greater London Authority and the Oxford Street Development Corporation (OSDC), the identity is called For Everyone and arrives as almost a kilometre of the street goes traffic-free, as Creative Review reported. Its job is to reposition one of Britain’s most famous and most criticised streets as a place for culture, leisure and public life, not just shopping.

How the identity works

The wordmark puts the emphasis on the word “for”, presenting Oxford Street as a destination with many purposes and many audiences. It is paired with the line Where London meets, which the system stretches across shopping and stopping, walking and talking, and the millions of people who live and work in the city. The type pairs London Sans with London Serif, bringing together the capital’s modern character and the street’s history.

A green palette signals the ambition for a greener public realm, with more room to walk, meet and pause, while secondary colours run across wayfinding and supporting messages. Koto founder and chief executive James Greenfield said the studio built the identity around what has always made the street extraordinary, “its ability to constantly change”. Creative director Sam Howard described Oxford Street as “a place of firsts, of celebration, of everyday encounters”.

A brand for a street in transition

The stretch between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street closed to buses, taxis, cars and cycles on Monday 26 October, according to the Mayor of London’s office. This first phase is a temporary transitional scheme, with more than 50 new trees, two public squares, over 100 seats and better signage due by the end of spring 2027. City Hall puts annual spending on the street at around £3.1bn.

As Marketing Week reported, pedestrianisation is only one part of a wider redevelopment effort to give the street a coherent brand that can reach a new generation of shoppers. The OSDC was set up by the Mayor in January 2026 to lead that regeneration.

Why it matters

An identity cannot fix crowded pavements or empty units on its own, a point Creative Review makes too. What it can do is give the OSDC, retailers and event partners a shared voice while the layout of the street is still being tested. It is the opposite call to Manchester’s Mayfield, which decided not to have a brand at all.

For brands with flagships on the street, a traffic-free space with a planned programme of sport, fashion and cultural events changes what Oxford Street can be used for. John Lewis, which has been raising its brand spend, said it has invested millions in refurbishing its flagship there. The first real test is Christmas, the street’s busiest trading period, and the work joins a strong year for UK identity design tracked in our best rebrands of 2026.