The TikTok emblem could seem fairly simple, however there’s truly extra to it than you would possibly suppose. And whereas TikTok is the youngest of the social media giants, the TikTok emblem has already undergone just a few tweaks to attain a punchy design that appears completely suited to the TikTok vibe.
So what does the TikTok emblem imply, and why does it work so properly? Under we take a better take a look at the evolution of TikTok emblem since its creation again in 2016, and likewise the which means behind the design. For extra emblem inspiration, do not miss our piece the YouTube logo history. If you happen to’re seeking to make your individual designs, see our tips about how to design a logo.
The TikTok emblem historical past
TikTok was fairly a novel social media platform when it burst onto the scene in 2017. The micro-video format clicked with a youthful technology that needed to do extra than simply share pictures of their dinner on social media – a technology that needed to carry out. Because of this, the app quickly gained a following. However the TikTok emblem truly predates the existence of TikTok as a model.
It began in 2016, when China’s ByteDance launched an app referred to as A.me. The app was quickly renamed Douyin, which implies one thing like ‘shaking sound’. What we all know because the TikTok emblem was truly created for this Chinese language app, therefore why it contains a musical notice that appears prefer it’s shaking and likewise occurs to resemble a letter D.
The TikTok emblem inspiration
Whereas the usage of a musical notice may appear slightly deceptive since TikTok is a video-based social media app relatively than a music streaming service, it suits Douyin’s identify and likewise is smart provided that one of many app’s primary specialities, a minimum of initially, was lipsynching movies. It was the power so as to add music and reuse the sound from different movies on the platform, that helped the app to take off.
The corporate itself says that it needed a emblem that “spoke to the stage that TikTok had created for therefore many proficient individuals.” The end result was “designed to encourage creativity and brings pleasure to followers and creators throughout the globe”. Aww.
The designer, who TikTok does not identify, apparently “selected the color black because the background of the emblem to excite customers for the performances behind the app.” Truthful sufficient. Black additionally has the good thing about being completely different from the colors of any of the primary established social media platforms, and even perhaps felt a bit rebellious. The cyan and fuchsia shadows have been apparently impressed by the designer’s remark of the distinction between the darkish backdrop and lighting results at dwell music concert events.
The primary TikTok emblem
In 2017, ByteDance started its app exterior of China as a separate app named TikTok after shopping for Musical.ly, a short-form video app based mostly in Shanghai that already had a person base within the US. However it stored the identical emblem that it was utilizing for its Chinese language product, in spite of everything a musical notice has the benefit that it is a common image relatively than restricted to a selected tradition or language, so there was no concern with the emblem not working within the west.
The TikTok identify was integrated below the emblem, initially spelled as two phrases in a primary sans serif font with squared-off corners.
The TikTok emblem at present
By the tip of 2018, TikTok had grown to have 271 million customers (it is since surpassed the one billion mark). At this level, the model determined to dedicate a bit extra time to discovering the proper font for the emblem, and created the TikTok wordmark that is nonetheless in use at present. Within the authentic emblem, the textual content felt like a little bit of an afterthought, flung on haphazardly beneath the mark, which it in all probability was.
Within the redesign, the textual content was made to look lot extra related to the glyph aesthetically, with heavier sort, and the area between TikTok eliminated. A cyan and fuchsia shadow impact was added to the “O” to reflect to reinforce the connection and inventive a extra coherent complete.
Why the TikTok emblem works
For many TikTok customers, the TikTok emblem’s resemblance to a ‘D’ and its illustration of the which means of ‘Douyin’ is irrelevant since they’re unaware of the TikTok emblem’s historical past and even the existence of the Chinese language app. However but nonetheless the emblem appears to work completely although it was apparently created in-house by an unnamed designer relatively than by a branding company.
It does so as a result of maybe even with out realizing it, the designer used basic guidelines of emblem design and colour theory. The design is easy, clear and straightforward to interpret and keep in mind. In the meantime, black and white are daring, clear contrasting colors, whereas cyan and fuchsia, near magenta, are complementary colors that create dynamic accents across the fringe of the emblem, including depth and making the 2D design look extra 3D via the evocation of anaglyph 3D pictures.
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