Mail.ru, now branded simply as Mail, is a Russian email service and internet portal that launched in 1998. The service is part of the VK ecosystem, after the parent company Mail.ru Group was renamed VK in 2021. The Mail brand identity has undergone two significant visual overhauls since 2018, each centered on the distinctive “@” symbol that has anchored the logo since its early years.
Design and History
In October 2018, Mail.ru introduced a new visual style for its portal and email services. The redesign removed the “.ru” particle from the logo, leaving the “@” symbol and the word “Mail” as the core mark. Yuri Vetrov, Director of Design at Mail.ru, explained that the “@” sign was the most famous design element of the portal and email, and the company leveraged this strength by making the sign “simple, understandable, and modern.” The removal of “.ru” streamlined the primary logo and simplified the naming of portal projects such as “Mail News” or “Mail Cloud.” The logo also became adaptive, allowing abbreviated project names like “@news” alongside full forms like “@mail news.”[1]
The 2018 redesign was a substantial undertaking. Active work began in February 2018, with roughly 20 people involved and about 70 logo proposals generated by eight branding agencies and design studios alongside in-house designers. The company spent 10 million rubles on the project, including design studio work, marketing research, and implementation. Evgeny Dolgov, lead designer of the Mail business unit, drew 47 logo variations for different company projects. The final version was ready by June 20, 2018, when Mail.ru presented its new email interface, and the logo went live on the Mail page and media projects in early October.[2]
In August 2024, the service, now operating under the name Mail, presented another visual update. The logo dropped the “.ru” domain zone entirely, and the color palette gained an updated blue and lime green. According to the company, the technological changes in products and visual style were a response to a new stage of development and the demands of a younger audience.[3] The 2024 update also introduced a mascot, a white dog named Byte, designed to guide users through Mail’s services.[4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The “@” symbol has been the central element of the Mail identity across redesigns. In 2018, the company described it as the most recognizable design element of the portal and email, and deliberately chose to keep it while simplifying its form.[1] During the 2018 development process, focus groups strongly resisted any proposal to remove the “@” sign entirely, confirming its importance to brand recognition.[2]
The current brand guidelines describe the logo as simple, friendly, understandable, and modern. The official palette is built around a neutral range, VK’s primary blue, and an accent green. The brand colors include Accent blue (#0077FF), Lime (#B8FC75), Sky (#07E5F9), Pink (#FF3985), and Black (#2C2D2E).[5]
Typography and Design
Following the 2018 rebranding, Mail.ru Group worked with the type design studio TypeType to develop a custom font family for composing the logos of all services within the portal. The project began in August 2018 and lasted about a year. The brand team at Mail.ru Group, led by creative director Mitia Osadchuk and lead brand designer Evgeny Dolgov, sought a geometric, monolithic typeface with short ascenders and descenders. TypeType refined the letterforms, notably changing rounded protruding terminals to straight, short ones, which gave the font its desired monolithic quality. The final version of the font was approved in March 2020.[6]
Current brand guidelines identify VK Sans Display as the corporate font for Mail products.[7] The logo construction is based on the diameter of the inner circle of the “@” symbol, with spacing between the symbol and text equal to that diameter.[5]
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