The TikTok emblem: historical past and inspiration By Joseph Foley revealed 18 March 23 Graphic Design Uncover the hidden which means behind the TikTok emblem.

2 days ago 4 min read

The TikTok emblem could appear fairly easy, however there’s really extra to it than you may assume. 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 effectively? Beneath we take a better take a look at the evolution of TikTok emblem since its creation again in 2016, and in addition the which means behind the design. For extra emblem inspiration, do not miss our piece the YouTube emblem historical past. In the event you’re seeking to make your individual designs, see our tips about tips on how to design a emblem.

The TikTok emblem historical past

(Picture credit score: TikTok)

TikTok was fairly a singular social media platform when it burst onto the scene in 2017. The micro-video format clicked with a youthful era that needed to do extra than simply share pictures of their dinner on social media – a era that needed to carry out. Consequently, the app quickly gained a following. However the TikTok emblem really predates the existence of TikTok as a model.

It began in 2016, when China’s ByteDance launched an app known as A.me. The app was quickly renamed Douyin, which suggests one thing like ‘shaking sound’. What we all know because the TikTok emblem was really created for this Chinese language app, therefore why it includes a musical word that appears prefer it’s shaking and in addition occurs to resemble a letter D.

TikTok logo

The TikTok emblem resembles a ‘D’ for Douyin (Picture credit score: TikTok)

The TikTok emblem inspiration

Whereas the usage of a musical word might sound slightly deceptive since TikTok is a video-based social media app quite than a music streaming service, it suits Douyin’s title and in addition is smart provided that one of many app’s important specialities, not less than initially, was lipsynching movies. It was the flexibility 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.

TikTok logo

TikTok says it went by a number of iterations of the musical word and selected the one which regarded greatest in small use as a favicon and app icon (Picture credit score: TikTok)

The designer, who TikTok would not title, apparently “selected the color black because the background of the emblem to excite customers for the performances behind the app.” Honest sufficient. Black additionally has the good thing about being totally different from the colors of any of the principle established social media platforms, and maybe even felt a bit rebellious. The cyan and fuchsia shadows had been apparently impressed by the designer’s statement of the distinction between the darkish backdrop and lighting results at reside music live shows.

The primary TikTok emblem

TikTok logo

TikTok was initially written as two phrases (Picture credit score: TikTok)

In 2017, ByteDance started its app outdoors 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 consumer base within the US. However it stored the identical emblem that it was utilizing for its Chinese language product, in any case a musical word has the benefit that it is a common image quite than restricted to a selected tradition or language, so there was no challenge with the emblem not working within the west.

The TikTok title was included beneath the emblem, initially spelled as two phrases in a primary sans serif font with squared-off corners.

The TikTok emblem as we speak

TikTok logo

The TikTok emblem as we speak (Picture credit score: TikTok)

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 suitable font for the emblem, and created the TikTok wordmark that is nonetheless in use as we speak. Within the authentic emblem, the textual content felt like a little bit of an afterthought, flung on haphazardly under the mark, which it most likely was.

Within the redesign, the textual content was made to look lot extra linked to the glyph aesthetically, with heavier kind, and the area between TikTok eliminated. A cyan and fuchsia shadow impact was added to the “O” to reflect to boost the connection and artistic 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 even though it was apparently created in-house by an unnamed designer quite than by a branding company.

It does so as a result of even perhaps with out realizing it, the designer used traditional guidelines of emblem design and color concept. The design is straightforward, clear and simple 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 by the evocation of anaglyph 3D pictures.

Trying to enhance your individual TikTok movies? Probably the greatest ring lights could make an enormous distinction relating to getting the suitable lighting.

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