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Who Designed The Bitcoin Logo? History & Updates
The Bitcoin logo is instantly recognizable and is one of the most iconic logos of our modern times. But who designed the logo? And how has it changed over the years?
Bitcoin first appeared in 2008 and since then it has always had a logo. If you know or follow Bitcoin, you’ll instantly recognize the current Bitcoin logo when you see it – it’s orange with a stylized B front and center.
Like any good logo, the Bitcoin logo is simple and connotes feeling and understanding. You see it and you instantly think: Bitcoin. Just like when you see the McDonald’s famous golden arches.
A good logo does not need to even use the brand name of a product, again, like McDonald’s, Apple, and, of course, Bitcoin. The Bitcoin logo started life very differently though. It didn’t use to look like it does now. In fact, it has been through a couple of major design changes…
Who Designed The Bitcoin Logo?
The original Bitcoin logo was designed by the alleged creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, although the Bitcoin logo used today is very different from the one first used in 2008 when Bitcoin first became a thing.
The OG Bitcoin logo used a stylized coin with a B in the center but was subsequently dropped because, according to legend, it caused confusion about the new, digital currency. You cannot get physical Bitcoin coins, so the OG design was dropped.
This was around 2008. In 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto updated the design, adding in a stylized B which looks like this ₿ – this particular stylization was inspired by the US dollar. At this point, the Bitcoin logo still featured a coin, however, much to the chagrin of many crypto users.
Bitboy Bitcoin Logo Design
In and around 2010, the Bitboy Bitcoin logo design first emerged. Inspired by Mastercard’s logo, the Bitcoin logo developed by Bitboy finally ditched the coin from the logo and replaced it with a simple, orange background. Bitboy’s design kept the stylized ₿ but applied italics to it.
The irony is as much as I hate Mxxxxx and Vxxx, it is all about perception when it comes to consumer confidence and behavior
BITBOY
Initially, the crypto community was divided over Bitboy’s Bitcoin logo design. But after some back and forth, around 12 months later, Bitboy’s design went on to become the de facto Bitcoin logo design – the one we all know and love.
The key design elements of Bitboy’s Bitcoin logo were based around design philosophies used by major banks and payment portals like PayPal. This was done, according to the designer, to inspire confidence and trust in Bitcoin and, by proxy, cryptocurrencies.
The original Bitcoin logo lacked the finesse and “brand appeal” of more mainstream logos like that of Mastercard and Visa’s simple, but confident logo designs. Bitboy used elements of both VISA and Mastercard’s logos to create a more “confidence-inspiring” logo for Bitcoin. And I think it worked.
The current Bitcoin logo looks more professional and modern. It has the same kind of appeal as logo designs from Forbes 100 companies and/or software companies with its focus on minimalist design elements and contrasting colors (orange and white).
The new Bitboy Bitcoin logo was also designed to be more flexible, so it would scale to both big and small screens. Because of its simple nature, the logo looks great on billboards as well as phone app icons and inside pictures on the web.
And while it might look simple, designing good-looking, iconic logos is impossibly hard. Apple’s iconic logo is the very definition of simplicity, for instance, but it took multiple design iterations to get to where it is today.
Good design is hard. Great, simple design is almost impossible. You need a clear, distinct vision in order to create something that is simple, instantly recognizable, and that conveys information without making you read anything.
This is what the McDonald’s arches do, what Apple’s logo does, and, thanks to BitBoy, is it now what the Bitcoin logo does too.
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