Surely you remember how big this was before they took over the “Metaverse”: Facebook had re-designed their ‘f’ logo! This WAS the largest branding change that the social media giant has made since they released the original ‘f’ logo almost 10 years ago. Successfully executing a re-design for a company that has built this much visual brand identity is no small feet. So let’s talk about the updates.
“It might be time to do a part 2 for this blog, a deep dive in to the rebranding behind Meta.”
Note from the TDM team
New Shape
Facebook is all about people and people are their main consumer facing product; more specifically the ability to connect with others. So it’s understandable that they would use a shape that has become synonymous with social interaction, the coveted circle. Circles naturally accentuate the human face which makes them perfect for profile pictures. In fact, the circle crop has become such a popular user interface element that literally every social media site uses it. All this being said, it makes perfect sense that their 2019 logo update would feature a prominent circle shape inspired by user profile pictures.
Click or tap to see the transformation
New Color
The logo’s shape wasn’t the only thing that got an update. While Facebook opted to continue using blue as their primary logo color, they have moved towards a brighter more energetic shade of blue. This move reflects the shift towards a younger target audience and falls in suite with colors used by other platforms competing for the same demographic such as Snapchat, Twitter, and (Facebook’s own) Instagram. We also see the same shade of blue being used as the primary color for Facebook’s Messenger, which helps build a unified brand image for the company.
The new ‘f’ logo uses a color that’s almost identical to Messenger
Same ‘f’
Despite these changes, the most iconic element of Facebook’s branding remains the same – the prominent lowercase ‘f’. Facebook’s lowercase ‘f’ is still the main focal point of their design. It uses a custom font created in house by Facebook and demonstrates an eloquent use of negative space. It has been the centerpiece of Facebook’s icon for a decade and remains it’s most distinguishable feature. With one small update… the ‘f’ is no longer slightly offset to the right (design enthusiasts rejoice). Regardless of the updated shape and color, keeping the iconic ‘f’ ensures it is unmistakably Facebook.
Facebook’s custom typeface is a key aspect of their brand