Facebook launches new branding

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Facebook has launched new branding to distinguish itself from the Facebook App.

In a statement, Facebook chief marketing officer, Antonio Lucio, said while the social media giant started as a single app 15 years ago, it now offers a suite of products, paving the way for a rethink of its visual branding. 

“We’re updating our company branding to be clearer about the products that come from Facebook. We’re introducing a new company logo and further distinguishing the Facebook company from the Facebook app, which will keep its own branding,” he said. 

The new branding was designed for clarity, and uses custom typography and capitalisation to create visual distinction between the company and app. 

“People should know which companies make the products they use. Our main services include the Facebook app, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, Workplace, Portal and Calibra. These apps and technologies have shared infrastructure for years and the teams behind them frequently work together,” Lucio said. 

“We started being clearer about the products and services that are part of Facebook years ago, adding a company endorsement to products like Oculus, Workplace and Portal. And in June we began including “from Facebook” within all our apps. Over the coming weeks, we will start using the new brand within our products and marketing materials, including a new company website.

“This brand change is a way to better communicate our ownership structure to the people and businesses who use our services to connect, share, build community and grow their audiences.”

Credit: Facebook

 Facebook said the new branding was inspired by how the company builds products, so it designed a process to learn, prototype and iterate quickly. It began by building a collective understanding of the company by conducting listening tours with employees and the people and businesses who use its products.

It explored three creative territories, uniting around one final concept inspired by the potential of people when they come together.

Through the process, three foundational design behaviours informed the brand system: Clarity: a brand that simplifies and builds understanding; Empathy: a system that is respectful of context and environment; and Creating Space: design that supports people and their stories.

“Today, when people hear “Facebook” they think of the Facebook app. This posed a unique design challenge,” Facebook said in a blog. “We needed the wordmark to establish distinction from the Facebook app and allow for a clearer connection to the full family of technologies. The new brand system uses custom typography, rounded corners, open tracking and capitalisation to create visual distinction between the company and the app.”

“Instead of the company owning a single colour, we designed the brand to be responsive to its context and environment. This system allows the wordmark to take on the colour of our individual brands, creating a clearer relationship between the company and the products we build.

“We continue to be inspired by the communities and people who use our products every day. The brand system was born out of a commitment to be clear, empathetic and create space for people’s stories to shine through. As the company continues to evolve, we hope this brand can help us better communicate the progress we’re making.”

This is the latest in a raft of changes Facebook has implemented since the data scandal of last year. Last month it trialled getting rid of the 'like' on posts in Australia, and in June it launched a new digital currency and financial transaction network all based on blockchain.

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