The Origin and Inspiration Behind the Facebook Logo That Revolutionized Social Media

Facebook is arguably, the most iconic social media company of this generation. Released to the general public in 2006, the platform has expanded and improved in leaps and bounds. Moreover, the company, now known as Meta, owns other popular social media platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp. That makes the Facebook logo one of the most well-known social media logos of all time.

Today, social media is far more than a mode of socialization and communication. It is now an avenue of marketing, branding, and a popular source of income for many people. Brands have social media handles and pages to promote their business, market and sell their products, and connect with their consumers.

Big Brands like these social media companies generally pay large sums of money to professional logo design services to create iconic logos.

Let’s discover Facebook logo evolution to see how it became such a well-known icon today.

1- The Facebook Logo – How Did It Come to Be?

Initially starting as Facemash, it depicted a website that allowed users to vote between the attractiveness of two random female students. The facemash logo soon evolved into the iconic blue-toned facebook logo we know today.

Since the launch of the original Facebook logo, the design has seen very few alterations or modifications. For the large part of its life so far, it has featured the company’s name in simple, lowercase letters. The color theme has always been white on blue, and the frame’s shape is rectangular and label-like.

When the company first came into being, its founders Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Savarin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes named it The Facebook. The logo was the company’s name written in light blue font over a darker blue background, and it wasn’t long before it was changed.

In 2004, at the behest of Napster founder Sean Parker, the team dropped the word “The” from their name and from their logo too. But the logo modification wasn’t finished. At the same time, the font color of the original Facebook logo was changed from light blue to bright white.

It wasn’t long before Facebook showed that it was here to stay, and started acquiring other social media apps and platforms. And since acquiring WhatsApp, Instagram, and more, the company has introduced different icons meant to be used for various purposes. These icons are derived from the primary logo featured on the company website, making them distinct in their purpose yet similar enough to provide a sense of conformity.

The project for the logo design was headed by Mike Buzzard, the co-founder of the Cuban Council. With the help of his team, he designed the iconic Facebook logo we know now. At the time, he was offered equity for the design work, but he refused.

1.1- Facebook Logo Color Scheme

There is exciting speculation about the company’s choice of a color palette. According to sources, the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, suffers from deutronopia, also called color blindness and specifically red-green blindness. However, he can distinguish minute differences between shades of blue that would go unnoticed by most of us.

The New Yorker was the first to claim that this disorder influenced the choice of using a blue-toned color scheme. And considering the design changes, the logo has seen over the years, only the shade of the blue background and the font itself has been tweaked over the years.

Incidentally, a lot of social media icons use shades of blue in their logos, such as the Discord logo, or even Myspace, Telegram, and Skype logos.

1.2- Facebook Logo Font

The iconic typeface used in the Facebook logos and wordmarks is a custom-designed, sans-serif font. The style of the lowercase characters is quite similar to that found in popular fonts like the Fact Bold and the Nuber Next Heavy.

The modern Facebook logo, however, is written using a modified form of the Klavika Bold font. In contrast, style is similar to the ones from the past. The design changes that differentiate it from Klavika include the contours of a few letters and the letter “A” shape.

Eric Olson designed this font, and the modifications were made by expert graphic designer Joe Kral.

2- The History of the Facebook Logo and the Rise of the Company It Represents

The company had quite an auspicious beginning. In 2003, a second-year student at Harvard University called Mark Zuckerberg was part of their computer science and engineering program. A natural prodigy in the subject, he was pretty adept at developing a variety of software products.

One day, while under the influence of alcohol, he created a website called “FaceMash.” It is a fact that he admitted pretty early in his blog, he made the website to allow Harvard students to view two pictures of their fellows and rank them on their attractiveness.

Understandably, it sparked a wave of outrage within the campus, especially among the female students who felt the primary targets of this activity. University officials quickly took down that website, and Zuckerberg barely missed being expelled for his actions.

However, the quick popularity of the site and how existing users converted others to join the platform laid the foundation of what would one day be called Facebook.

A year later, Mark had the idea to create an online directory of all students at Harvard and called the project “The Facebook.” However, a week after its launch, he was accused by three fellow students of plagiarizing their idea.

They claimed that Zuckerberg promised to help them build a site similar to the new “The Facebook,” called HarvardConnection.com. However, he instead took the idea to develop his rival site. After tipping off the local varsity newspaper called the Crimson, an investigation began into the case.

Despite the controversy, however, “The Facebook” was quite popular among the students at the university. Within a month, more than half of the undergrad students were a part of the platform. As rumors of the platform started to rise in rival colleges, Zuckerberg soon allowed access to students of rival varsities such as Columbia, Stanford, and Yale.

Very soon, students from all Ivy League colleges were allowed to join the platform. Within a span of months, university students from across Canada and the US could enter “The Facebook,” and soon, people from around the world as well.

2.1- The Transformation of Facebook into a Company

In late 2004, the company was officially incorporated. Zuckerberg’s friend, advisor, and Napster developer Sean Parker was announced as president of the new company. In 2005, the word “The” was dropped from the logo, making for a simple name easy to remember.

Purchasing the domain name for $200,000, the company planned for a global launch of the platform.

2012 saw the company holding its first Initial Public Offering, and the previously private company sold its stock to willing investors. And the popularity of the company has been so great its stock has performed excellently since the IPO.

3- The Evolution and History of the Facebook Logo Through the Years

Let us now look at the evolution of the various types of logos Facebook has used through the years.

The facebook logo PNG file is available on a number of sites on the web. However, they come with limited permissions. In case you need to use them for your websites or business cards, the images are easy to use as favicons.

3.1- The Facemash Logo (2003)

The company’s first logo was for the website called “FaceMash.” It featured the name of the website in white, blocky uppercase letters over a maroon background. While not technically a logo for the social media platform, it laid the foundation for something truly extraordinary, and we see this style copied throughout the Facebook logo evolution.

3.2- The Facebook Logo (2004)

Newly renamed “The Facebook,” the new logo featured the name in a bracketed, lowercase font. There was no space between the two words in the title, and the characters were written in a light blue font over a dark blue background. Moreover, there was a strange square bracket around the name.

3.3- The First Facebook Logo (2005)

The company dropped the “The” from the name, as well as from the logo. The original Facebook logo featured a sans-serif white typeface, with lowercase letters spelling out the company’s name. The new logo also featured a taller design, with the blue background colored a few shades darker than before.

3.4- Facebook Logo Modified (2015)

In this version, the typeface was swapped for a modern, softer font. The letters were still written in white. However, the background was lightened a few shades. The most memorable thing about this logo was the new shape of the letter “a” and the modified forms of many other characters.

3.5- The Facebook Logo Modernized (2019)

The year 2019 saw the disappearance of the blue background. The shade used was a medium blue, written over a white background. The new logo looked dashing and was a massive hit with the users who hadn’t seen a new logo or alteration in a little while. Even the icons now used a circular background instead of a square.

3.6- The New Facebook Logo Redefined (2021 – Present)

Since 2015, the Facebook logo released then by the company can be seen everywhere around us. However, that is because it has only ever been tweaked very slightly, as many aren’t willing to make that mistake. The idea behind it was to simplify the design and aesthetics in favor of utilitarian values by the company.

The new vastly superior and streamlined logo looks quite good featured on a variety of screens. Moreover, it portrays a sense of modernism and simplistic appeal, something in line with the austere design values of today. The smaller and simpler logo is perfect for small screen sizes of our phones, ushering in the smartphone era.

3.7- Facebook Logo Icons

 

Just like the Facebook logo, the icons have changed with the times. And with each redesign, the icons have grown more straightforward and more minimalistic.

The first facebook icon on the list was the most intricate one of the bunch. The classic lowercase letter “f” with a slight shade at the back was placed in a light blue frame. However, from 2009 to 2013, the logo was changed and featured a light blue line at the bottom of the icon.

In 2013, the icon’s border was removed, and the image was made to look as if a shape in the style of the letter “f” had been cut from a blue sheet. And finally, the current design released in 2019 saw the first significant change in the icon – the background is now round instead of a square.

These symbols are also perfect to be used as social media icons for business cards. As most businesses and private contractors use social media for business today, it is a great way to capture new customers.

4- The Arrival of Meta – What Does It Say About Facebook?

In 2021, after acquiring multiple social media platforms including WhatsApp, Instagram, and more, Facebook decided to separate the Facebook product from the brand itself. In a move similar to Google’s Alphabet, the company now calling itself Meta Platforms Inc. has now focused itself on developing a Metaverse.

According to the company, the Metaverse refers to the integrated platform which connects all of the company’s offerings and services, for a seamless user experience.

Now, for many people, this move might not have made sense. But by separating the Facebook brand from the company, they have allowed both of them to develop individually, as well as part of a unified environment. And judging from Google’s example, it can be highly rewarding when done well.

5- The Popularity of the Facebook Logo – Why is it so Popular?

Over the years, the Facebook logo has changed the way we perceive and use social media. Now it has become the standard of any social media platform, combining business and communication seamlessly, especially when it appears next to the Instagram logo as part of the Meta family.

Despite the data misuse allegations in recent years, Facebook is still one of the most used social media platforms around the globe. And let’s consider the users on its acquired platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp. The user base runs into the billions.

If you want an iconic logo like Facebook for your business or website, we can help you. Our designers are experts at creating modern and attractive logos that are designed to represent your brand perfectly.