Slack is a cloud-based collaboration platform that launched in 2013 with a colorful hashtag-style logo. The mark was created before the company officially launched and was designed to resemble the octothorpe character used in front of channel names within the product itself. [1]
Design and History
Slack’s original logo was a tilted, multicolored hashtag built from 11 different colors. According to Slack’s own account, the mark was extremely easy to get wrong: if placed on any background other than white, rotated at anything other than the precisely prescribed 18-degree angle, or rendered with slightly altered colors, it looked terrible. The company developed multiple versions of the logo to compensate for different contexts, but this meant every app button looked different from the next, and none matched the primary logo. Slack described the result as lacking cohesion. [1]
In January 2019, Slack launched a new logo as the first step in a broader visual refresh. The work was led by Slack’s in-house design and brand team together with Michael Bierut and the team at Pentagram. [1] Pentagram described the update as the first significant change to Slack’s brand identity since the company launched in 2013. [2]
Pentagram explored a wide range of possibilities for the new identity, including options suggesting connect-the-dots, complex knots, emojis and people-like shapes. Ultimately, the team decided to retain the equity of Slack’s familiar octothorpe, retooling it to eliminate reproduction challenges and increase consistency across applications. [2]
Derived from the original logo and built on a grid, the new octothorpe is composed of two basic geometric shapes: a speech bubble and a lozenge. These shapes can be extracted and used as standalone graphic elements. The speech bubble evokes communication and connectivity, and it forms the basis of a system of customized icons, illustrations and motifs with rounded corners that echo the shapes of the logo. The new mark can scale up or down to optimize legibility at various sizes. [2]
Slack’s own announcement described the new logo as using a simpler color palette and being more refined while still containing the spirit of the original. The company called it an evolution that can scale easily and work better in many more places. [1]
Meaning and Symbolism
The octothorpe shape references the hashtag character that appears in front of channel names in Slack’s product, where teams organize conversations by topic. [2] The speech bubble component evokes communication and connectivity, according to Pentagram. [2]
The updated palette features four primary colors, reduced from the original’s eleven, which suffered against any background color other than white. The colors were optimized to look better on screen. The identity also retains Slack’s distinctive aubergine purple as an accent color, used in the platform’s main communication channel to make Slack instantly recognizable against the white of other desktop windows. [2]
Shortly after the 2019 rebrand, Slack updated its mobile app icon again, changing the background from purple to white. The company said the change was designed to make the app easier to spot on a device. [3]
Typography and Design
Slack’s brand guidelines specify that the logo is composed of an octothorpe symbol and a logotype set in Hellix Bold. The horizontal logo is the primary logo and should be used in most instances. [4] For broader brand typography, Slack’s guidelines identify Larsseit as the brand typeface. [4]
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