Social media: love it or hate it, the idea of connecting online using some platform or another is here to stay. Most adults have at least one social media account, and now, most teenagers do as well. Even kids in grade school are creating their own social media accounts.
While social media continues to grow, one of the most essential parts of a social media company’s marketing is its logo. Users click on these logos every day when they open the various platforms. Their design needs to be simple and memorable.
It must be simple because the logo needs to slow up nicely on a phone screen. It needs to be memorable so people can easily find it when they look for it on their phones.
Facebook was one of the first major social media sites to capture a broad audience. While it has changed a bit from the early days, the idea of connecting people has remained the same. The current Facebook logo is a white, lowercase “f” on a blue gradient background.
The logo for the phone app is similar, except it usually appears in the typical rounded square as an icon. The blue gradient and white f remain, however. The gradient blue in the background gives this logo a feel of movement, representing a platform that is constantly changing each moment a new post is made.
While users share articles and all kinds of things on Facebook, Instagram users primarily share pictures and short video clips. For that reason, this platform is very visual, so it makes sense that the Instagram logo would also be very visual. It is colorful and bright because Instagram users generally focus on the positivity in their lives on Instagram.
The white outline of a classic Polaroid camera calls back to earlier versions of the logo, which more prominently featured a camera.
TikTok
The platform TikTok is known for short videos and sound clips that people can use and interact with. The logo looks like an eighth note, but it actually symbolizes a lowercase “d” based on the app’s original name, “Douyin.” This little icon also has echos of red and teal.
These echos are creative because they could represent how different users use sounds and videos within the platform. It also has a slightly distorted appearance to celebrate the fun of attending live music concerts.
Twitter is a social media platform where people share status and news updates. While the character count was once limited to 140 characters, it was extended in 2017. The Twitter logo is a bird that symbolizes short bits of information users hare, live birds singing songs. The brand name “Twitter” also means the calling and singing out of birds.
The premise of Pinterest is simple: a platform where users can virtually “pin” ideas to various boards to help them create or bring a vision to life. Meant to mimic the idea of an old-school pinboard, the logo is perfect for that purpose.
With a lowercase “p” in the middle of a red circle, the p looks like an older font, like something you would find in the 1950s when pin boards were popular. The vibrant red represents action because the whole goal of Pinterest is that users will create from their ideas.
YouTube
YouTube is a video sharing platform where people create and view videos made by content creators. The logo for YouTube is simple and straightforward. The mobile logo is a white play button with a red background.
The red helps it stand out, and the play icon makes users feel like they are just pressing play. The website logo includes the red play button as well as YouTube in black spelled out following the play button.
Snapchat
Snapchat is a common social media platform among young social media users. The idea behind Snapchat is that the message disappears after it is read, similar to a real life moment in the hallway or in the lunchroom between friends. The logo is a little white ghost on a yellow background. The ghost represents the idea that the messages do not stick around for long.
LinkedIn is a social media platform focused on helping people connect and find jobs. The logo for LinkedIn is one of the few logos on a mobile that has part of the name inside of it. On the phone, the logo appears as a blue box with the word “in” written inside. This helps reinforce the idea that LinkedIn can help get people into the positions they want.
Discord
Discord is a popular social media platform for those in the gaming world. The logo plays off this idea and has a small purple logo that looks like a nondescript video game controller. Though there are applications for the platform for those who do not play games, gamers are the primary users.
Twitch
Going along with Discord, a popular social media platform for gamers is Twitch. Users can live stream their gameplay to share it with others using this platform. Through these live streams, gamers learn tips and tricks for playing through their games.
The logo for Twitch is a squared off speech bubble with a quotation mark inside of it. This logo represents the sharing of ideas through the live streams available on the platform.
Wattpad
Wattpad is a platform that creators can use to publish their independent work and find an audience. The logo is very simple but elegantly represents this social media platform; it is an orange “W” written so that it also resembles the squiggle of an artist’s brush. This dual representation shows that writers, even independent ones, are artists.
Nextdoor
Nextdoor is a social media platform that is specific to where you live. So if your house is in a subdivision or community, there’s a good chance it is also on Nextdoor. Users share observations, sales, and concerns with neighbors in their area on this platform.
The logo is a bright green “n” with a little chimney coming off its side. The lime green coloring really stands out among other social media logos. However, since it shares some similarities with Facebook, the act of using just a lowercase letter to identify that app is a smart move.
DeviantArt
DeviantArt is a place for artists to show and share their work. The logo is somewhat confusing to look at initially, but upon further inspection, it is an “A” that has been cut in half then rotated. Since this logo requires an extra minute to study it, the logo wonderfully represents the brand because art also needs a careful eye to study it.
WhatsApp is a little different from other social media platforms because its primary purpose is to be a communication tool. It offers free calling and texting. Instead of sharing those calls and messages in public, everything on WhatsApp is private between users.
The logo is purposely similar to other communication apps on Apple. A speech bubble and a phone icon inside, it combines calling and messaging, the two primary kinds of communication on the app.
Peanut
Peanut is a social media app built for moms. It creates a community and opportunity for moms to connect with other moms. The logo is simple and cute, with a white outline of a peanut on a coral background. The logo plays with the commonly feminine color of pink. It includes a peanut icon to help people quickly find it while searching their phones.