Evolving a Brand
Bitly began as a tool to shorten URLs on Twitter when users had to obey the strict 140 character limit. Today we are an essential tool for marketers everywhere, reaching millions of users all over the world, on all types of devices.
Over the past few years, we’ve grown up a lot; we redesigned our product, marketing website and blog — making them responsive and relevant. We took a large step into mobile deep links, and even reached profitability. Our brand exists on an ever-growing array of screen sizes and devices and it’s important that it remains recognizable and strong no matter where or how it is viewed.
Our goal for a brand refresh was clear: enhance legibility across our assets while maintaining the essence of what is familiar and recognizable about Bitly. And let’s be real, when you love something this much, you want it to be at it’s best. So, we rolled up our sleeves, packed our bags and left for bezier land. We analyzed every curve, every counter and every inch of negative space — kerning is king!
WHAT EXACTLY HAS CHANGED?
REFINED LOGO:
It was important that we keep the approachable, friendly spirit of our original logo. However, we carefully updated and adjusted the letterforms for an overall more polished and flexible mark. For those design nerds out there (hi friends!), you’ll see why we made these subtle but important changes. We created a more consistent line weight and aligned the letterforms to the baseline. We adjusted the spacing between letterforms to create even, rhythmic negative space. This makes for a tight, iconic mark that scales well and renders legibly even on monitors with poor resolution.
NEW ICON:
This logomark makes total sense! I know, we thought so too. We pay tribute to the @ symbol, the root of conversation on twitter — conversations of which Bitly is so often a core part. This mark will be used as the icon and avatar for Bitly going forward, from our social profiles to our favicon.
NEW TAGLINE LOGO:
Well of course, The Power of The Link — this is the foundation of our brand. All of the data we collect and the stories we help tell stem from Bitlinks. They are the core of our business, our bread and butter. Here, our new refined logo is accompanied by our beloved brand font, Brandon Grotesque. We chose this font because it is strong and contemporary while still having a friendly touch.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Along with the logotype and logomark, our entire creative direction has matured to match our vision; shifting from our traditional roots in the social world, to our focus on leveraging the link as an omni-channel marketing asset. We are confident that these visual changes will help optimize these efforts.
Although not visually changing, our beloved pal Chauncey McPufferson will be used more sparingly and strategically as a part of a push to focus on our paid product, Bitly Enterprise. Don’t worry, he is still a core element to our culture. We are just maturing as a business and want him to be there for you when you need him most!
In the end, knowing when and how your brand needs to mature is not a simple task. But, understanding that brands need to visually align with the maturity of the product, people and the business is the first step to success.
