Facebook Changes Its Logo; Here's Why!

Facebook recently changed its logo, although the difference is almost unnoticeable.

News.com reported that the basic silhouette of the original logo was maintained and the blue and white colors are still present. Only the font was changed, which was quite close to the old one.

The biggest adjustment was on the letter ‘a,’ which changed from two to one storey. The ‘o’s' appear rounder and the ‘b’ appears to have a more classic stem. The blue background also looked lighter.

Josh Higgins, creative director of Facebook, mentioned that Facebook’s first logo was made in 2005, when the company was still starting. He shared how they wanted the logo to have a mature appearance so that people would take them seriously. Now that Facebook has built its reputation as one of the biggest social media networks in the world, they decided to modernize the logo to make it look friendlier and more approachable.

Higgins said in the same News.com report, “While we explored many directions, ultimately we decided that we only needed an update, and not a full redesign.”

Wired.com revealed that Facebook began considering a new font for their logo in 2013. Joe Kral and Cuban Council made the first one using the typeface called Klavika from Process Type Foundry.

Eric Olson created Klavika and the Facebook favicon. He said that the original was dark, condensed and compact. “But Facebook ten years ago is very different from Facebook now. Now it owns a fair number of things, so is more of an umbrella at this point rather than an in-the-front logo,” he said.

Overall, the new logo is simpler. Min Lew, a Base Design partner, said that what the new Facebook logo lacks in personality, it gains in practicality. The new logo will appeal better to a wider market. Previously, Ben Barry set some guidelines to ensure that the same favicon would work over various devices. Howard Belk, chief creative officer at Siegel+Gale, added that the logo change is utility-driven, which will optimize the logotype for mobile devices. Considering how screen sizes at present are small, Facebook’s goal is to appeal to mobile users and the minor logo change will lead to huge accomplishments in the future.

The brand becomes more flexible as Facebook moves further into India and Africa. Since technology tends to change significantly among users in these areas, the branding flexibility or legibility will work well for the social media giant.