A new rhodamine B-coumarin conjugate (1) capable of recognizing both $Cu^{2+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ using two different detection modes have been designed and synthesized. The metal ion induced optical changes of 1 were investigated in $CH_3CN-H_2O$ (1:1, v/v, HEPES 50 mM, pH = 7.0) solution. Sensor 1 exhibits selective colorimetric recognition of $Cu^{2+}$ and fluorescent recognition of $Fe^{3+}$ with UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy, respectively. Moreover, both of the $Cu^{2+}$ and $Fe^{3+}$ recognition processes are observed to be barely interfered by other coexisting metal ions.