Elon Musk has unveiled a new logo for Twitter as part of a rebranding effort. The Tesla CEO chose a “minimalist art deco” X design, which he described as a temporary version that will likely be refined in the future. The new logo was confirmed by Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, who tweeted the design and expressed excitement for the rebrand. Musk had asked his 149 million followers for design ideas and appears to have selected the logo through a flickering video he posted on his Twitter feed. The X symbol holds significance for Musk, as it represents his vision for an “everything app” that he plans to launch in the future, possibly using Twitter as the platform.
After acquiring Twitter last year, Musk integrated the company into a larger entity called X Corp, which has X Holdings Corp as its parent company. Musk recently announced the formation of xAI, a new artificial intelligence company. The chosen logo was sourced from Twitter user Sawyer Merritt, co-founder of a sustainable clothing business, who had posted the font, which had previously been used for a discontinued podcast. The logo is derived from unicode, an international standard for encoding text characters online.
There are questions regarding whether the logo can be copyrighted or protected as a trademark since it is based on a unicode font that is widely available. Some experts find the choice of a standard character peculiar, as companies typically invest significant resources in designing unique logos to distinguish themselves. The X concept is inspired by WeChat, a Chinese platform that offers various functionalities, from messaging to taxi ordering and bill payments. Musk believes that if Twitter can replicate WeChat’s success, it will become a great platform.
Yaccarino provided some details on how she envisions X to function, stating that it will be AI-powered and focused on audio, video, messaging, and payments/banking. The desktop version of Twitter now displays the new logo in place of the bird symbol, and the official Twitter account has been changed to the X brand. Rebranding efforts have also been observed at Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco, where the X logo has been projected on the building and incorporated into conference room names. However, analysts warn that the rebranding carries significant risks, as Twitter is already facing financial challenges and intense competition, including the emergence of Threads, a rival platform launched by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta.
