The origins of the Flattr logo

I get the questions, “Who designed Flattr logo?” quite often. The answer is “I made it”, but of course it wasn’t a matter of sitting down and having a polished logo ready 15 minutes later. Here’s the true story of the Flattr logo.

Everyone knows that way before a product exist you need a logo for it. Or even before you set up a company. Or going even further — you need a logo before you have the people who know how to set up a company and build a product. Logo is just something you need. It’s the same when you’re starting a band — first you come up with the name.

Around the time we came up with early mocks for Flattr system we had a text-only. It was just a written name using a not very standard font called Handel I believe.

[caption id=”attachment_6198" align=”aligncenter” width=”300" caption=”The first Flattr logo, complete with reflection!”]

[/caption]

It’s a common knowledge that you can’t have a logo that’s just text, right? So started the quest for a graphical symbol. I started by taking something from the product itself and added it into the mix — a flow of money and love. This is what Flattr does so I thought: “Red for love, green for the money”. Since it goes round and round I made it circular and the very first icon was born.

[caption id=”attachment_6200" align=”aligncenter” width=”300" caption=”The first Flattr symbol, used for the early beta site.”]

[/caption]

The result was OK-ish but had one huge problem as it screamed recycling company! Instead it should have said “cool internet revolution thing”. Back to the drawing board.

[caption id=”attachment_6199" align=”aligncenter” width=”300" caption=”No, this was not a good idea.”]

[/caption]

I tried some different ideas but none were really good, none of them worked. So the whole circle/recycle idea went out the window. And colors red and green with it.

In March 2011 Flattred moved in to our current attic office which for us was (and still is) an awesome space that we then shared with a bunch of architects who had also designed it. The office was fitted with furniture in colors that are probably quite familiar to you. Orange and green. We liked it a lot.

[caption id=”attachment_6205" align=”aligncenter” width=”300" caption=”No, this was not our stuff, thanks Staffan for the colors!”]

[/caption]

With fresh colors in my mind and ideas from the creative environment I got an idea that was quite different. It looked good but felt like an icon for an Adobe product, Flash in particular.

[caption id=”attachment_6202" align=”aligncenter” width=”300" caption=”I see an Adobe logo there somewhere.”]

[/caption]

Something important happened in the process of tinkering with the logo — the corners of the square were carried over to the text to give more life. And no, it was absolutely not inspired by PayPal’s newer logo.

That whole box had something in it that I liked, the bend in the F might be something so of course I had to try it.

[caption id=”attachment_6203" align=”aligncenter” width=”300" caption=”Getting close right?”]

[/caption]

We had arrived, then the next step was kind of logical. The text got some more tweaks and it was final.

[caption id=”attachment_6206" align=”aligncenter” width=”300" caption=”What should be the first print out of the Flattr logo.”]

[/caption]

Flattr logo — it’s a symbol of recycling, of love and money, from the bend in the F of the text, based on a modified font, and colored by the office we rented.

Sometimes the real story isn’t as illogical as it can seam in retrospect.

Want to play around with our logo? Download a high rez version