Reddit’s visual identity centers on Snoo, a genderless alien mascot whose curiosity is described by the company as a common thread across the broad community of people who use Reddit. The current logo consists of a stylized Snoo head contained within an OrangeRed (#FF4500) conversation bubble, typically paired with the Reddit wordmark. Reddit’s brand page describes Snoo as a “lovable, genderless mascot and community ambassador” who looks out with a friendly, engaged expression, and notes that the icon serves as shorthand for Reddit itself. [1]
Design and History
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian originally created Snoo as a sketch while he was still in college at the University of Virginia. [2] According to Wired, Ohanian doodled the creature in a notebook during a marketing class his senior year. The drawing was black and white with pops of red, featuring an oval head, pom-pom ears, and a single antenna. When Reddit launched in 2005, the drawing served as a convenient icon for the site. [3]
Ohanian originally wanted to call the site S’new, a contraction of “What’s new?” The name Reddit prevailed, while Snoo, more pleasingly spelled, lived on with the mascot. [3] Ohanian has described Snoo as a time traveler from the future, explaining, “It was a guarantee we weren’t going to fail. If we failed, Snoo wouldn’t be able to travel back to the present.” [3]
In 2017, Reddit updated its logo, turning Snoo entirely orange while keeping the Reddit wordmark in black. [4] Reddit’s own brand history notes that in 2017 the company launched its first mobile app, redesigned its desktop experience, and began to define the Reddit brand. [5]
In November 2023, Reddit unveiled a major brand refresh developed by Pentagram. [6] The design team took the existing 2D Snoo icon and rendered it in 3D, with the kind of nuanced character development that goes into designing Pixar characters. [6] Snoo moved into 3D with updated poses, expressions, and reactions, and gained opposable thumbs for the first time in Reddit history. [5] The new logo, a disembodied Snoo head in a red chat bubble, went live as the logo and favicon on Reddit’s corporate website. [2]
Pentagram’s stated goal was to turn Snoo into a character as iconic as Super Mario and cement its role as Reddit’s mascot by formalizing its shape and details. [6] The design team also introduced a conversation bubble as the new cornerstone of the brand’s visual identity, highlighting the unique role that comments play in the Reddit universe. [6]
Meaning and Symbolism
Reddit’s brand page states that discovery and exploration are integral to Reddit, and that Snoo is “exceptionally curious about our world and the people in it.” The company explains: “Everyone has felt like an outsider. And everyone has needed to talk with someone or ask a question. Snoo is a visitor to our world whose curiosity is a common thread across the broad community of people who use Reddit.” [1]
Wired notes that Snoo’s hurried sketch left the character colorless and genderless, “a form onto which everyone could map themselves.” As Ohanian put it, “Snoo came to symbolize Reddit and a Reddit user,” in that the icon happened to be particularly moldable. [3]
Reddit’s official guidelines for Snoo usage establish specific character rules: Snoo has no gender and reproduces via mitosis, communicates via antenna, and should not be given additional physical features such as a nose, fingers, or toes. [7]
Typography and Design
As part of the 2023 refresh, Reddit introduced two bespoke typefaces: Reddit Display and Reddit Sans. Reddit Display incorporates the theme of conversation directly, with counterforms designed in the shape of conversation bubbles. It serves as the basis for the new wordmark and is intended for bold, expressive headlines. [5] Reddit’s brand page describes Reddit Sans as built for the Internet, with clear, accessible letterforms that maintain some of the warm eclectic nature of online discourse, incorporating humanist characteristics for better differentiation of characters. [1]
Pentagram customized Reddit Sans, turning the rounded counter forms of lowercase letters into bubbles as a nod to Reddit’s interface, which led to the creation of Reddit Display. [6] Reddit’s goal was for Reddit Sans to be open-source and available on GitHub and Google Fonts. [5]
The 2023 refresh also expanded Reddit’s color palette. In addition to OrangeRed, Reddit colors now include GuavaPink, LimeGreen, BananaYellow, and JuniperBlue. OrangeRed remains the signature color for Reddit itself. [5] Pentagram streamlined the palette from a diverse library of over 100 colors to a total of 15, consisting of 5 primary hues each with 3 shades. [6]
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.
