vBulletin is a proprietary Internet forum software package sold by MH Sub I, LLC, doing business as vBulletin, formerly Jelsoft Enterprises and vBulletin Solutions. [1] The software was first released in 2000 by Jelsoft, and Internet Brands acquired the product in 2007. [2] The vBulletin mark is a registered trademark of MH Sub I, LLC dba vBulletin. [3]
Design and History
The most significant documented redesign of the vBulletin logo occurred in 2009, alongside the launch of vBulletin 4.0. The redesign was led by the design studio Plasticmind, which documented the project in detail. [4]
According to Plasticmind, the goal of the project was to “breathe new life and energy into the vBulletin branding without alienating almost 10 years worth of loyal customers.” Early design rounds explored corporate blues and oranges, but the team pushed for a bolder direction, which led to a superhero-themed visual concept. [4]
A key constraint of the redesign was continuity: the vBulletin team wanted to keep the checkmark V from the previous logo. Plasticmind recreated the mark using the basic layout of the old logo, combined with the lowercase “v” letterform drawn from the new typeface. [4]
The checkmark V has long served as the recognizable core of the vBulletin identity. Forum administrators and users have referred to the favicon and site icon as a blue “V” or tick mark, and the mark appeared in browser address bars across vBulletin-powered communities. [5] [6]
In August 2023, vBulletin 6 was announced with a new default style that updated fonts, colors, and icons for a consistent appearance across devices. [7] The announcement describes changes to the product’s interface styling rather than a documented redesign of the corporate logo mark itself.
Typography and Design
For the 2009 vBulletin 4.0 redesign, Plasticmind selected Gotham Condensed for the logo wordmark. The designer described it as carrying “all the friendliness and populist overtones they were trying to convey with the new community features of 4.0 while still being similar enough to the old logo font so as to be familiar.” [4]
In the vBulletin 6 release, the product’s default interface adopted the Poppins typeface, a sans-serif chosen for its simplicity and readability. This change applies to the software’s default style and user interface rather than the corporate logo wordmark. [7]
Within the vBulletin software itself, the logo displayed in the header of each forum installation is controlled by a style variable called titleimage, which defines the file path of the logo image shown in the top left corner of every page. [3] Site administrators can replace this default logo with their own branding through the Site Builder tool. [8]
Logo Index is an independent educational archive covering logos, visual identities and graphic design history. All trademarks and brand assets remain the property of their respective owners.
