The meaning behind the Kumon logo

At Kumon, we’re often asked about our logo. How was the Kumon logo designed? Where does the word ‘Kumon’ come from? Why do people think the Kumon logo looks sad?

The Kumon logo carries a lot of meaning and, in fact, each part of it was carefully chosen to express the values that are important to our company and everyone who works at Kumon.

The Kumon Thinking Face

The face is recognised all over the world as the most stand out feature of the Kumon logo - we call it the ‘Thinking Face’.

A key feature of the Kumon Method of Learning is encouraging students to work out answers for themselves to become a confident self-learner. Solving problems independently requires deep thinking, so the face in the ‘O’ represents the expression of our Kumon students around the world - they are thinking deeply and are engaged, learning and growing!

Similarly, the Thinking Face also represents the faces of all the Kumon staff. Everyone who is involved with Kumon – Instructors and Associates alike – has a mutual desire to support students, learn from children, and to keep developing themselves. Kumon Instructors, for example, are always thinking to themselves, “How can I help this child progress?”

The blue colour

The iconic ‘Kumon blue’ colour represents the sky that stretches across the world. Did you know that over 3.5 million children in more than 50 different countries study with Kumon? The blue colour reminds us of all the different children who are learning and growing through the Kumon Maths and English Programmes.

The colour blue is traditionally associated with intelligence, wisdom, and honesty, adding further meaning to our logo’s design.

The word ‘Kumon’

Kumon gets its name from the founder of the Kumon Method of Learning, Toru Kumon, who was a maths teacher in Japan in the 1950s. When he discovered that his own son, Takeshi, was struggling with maths at school, Toru started creating worksheets and handmade booklets for him to complete at home every day. Word got around, and soon friends and neighbours were requesting booklets for their children too - the Kumon Method was born!

Established over 60 years ago, Kumon is now recognised as the world’s largest supplementary education provider. In the UK and Ireland alone, around 600 dedicated Instructors proudly support children in their local communities to become confident, successful learners via the Kumon Programmes. It’s no wonder then that the Kumon logo has become such a recognisable symbol!