Splunk, the data analytics and observability platform, uses a wordmark that reads “splunk>” in lowercase lettering followed by a greater-than sign. The company’s trademark registration formally describes the mark as “the word ‘splunk’ followed by a greater-than sign.”[1] Splunk’s own trademark usage guidelines list “Splunk>” among its registered trademarks.[2]
Design and History
Splunk was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in San Francisco.[3] The company name derives from “splunking,” the English term for cave exploration, which the company has tied to its brand story of searching through the dark to find answers.[4]
In September 2019, Splunk announced a brand refresh alongside its new “Data to Everything” platform vision at its annual .conf19 user conference.[5] The company changed its brand colors from green and black to orange and pink as part of this relaunch.[6] Splunk CEO Doug Merritt highlighted the new pink and orange colors during the conference keynote.[5]
In a 2024 blog post describing the brand refresh process, Splunk brand steward Adam Morgan explained that the company deliberately avoided a complete rebrand. The audit that preceded the refresh identified the logo, main brand font, and gradient brand color as elements that should not change, based on customer feedback.[4]
In 2020, Splunk filed a legal complaint against Deutsche Telekom AG after the German telecom company sued Splunk in German courts over its use of magenta in its branding. Splunk stated that it had begun using a gradient color scheme including coral, orange, and magenta in its marketing materials the previous year, and that it chose these colors to differentiate its brand in the data industry.[7]
Meaning and Symbolism
Splunk’s brand colors are described by the company as “a gradient from warm pink to orange and yellow.” In the brand refresh narrative, this gradient was given a documented meaning: it represents candlelight, “a warm glow that represents a feeling of calm and hope.” This connects to the company’s brand manifesto, which positions Splunk as “the light at the end of the tunnel” for organizations dealing with security threats and system failures.[4]
The company’s name origin, tied to cave exploration, was refreshed as part of the same brand story to emphasize “searching through the dark to find answers” and the feeling of hope.[4]
Typography and Design
Splunk’s official brand documentation indicates that the company maintains a main brand font that was retained during the 2019 refresh.[4] A 2015 discussion on Splunk’s community forum noted that the logo on the company’s front page was rendered as text using a font family called “Splunk Icons,” served from Splunk’s own static fonts directory.[8]
A trademark filing for the SPLUNK> mark describes a design consisting of “a circle design colored in a gradient of coral, orange and magenta (in various degrees) with the word ‘SPLUNK >’ in white displayed thereon.”[9] Splunk’s legal complaint against Deutsche Telekom similarly notes that since September 2019, Splunk has used its three-color gradient “as a background for some of its logos, some of which include the SPLUNK> house mark.”[10]
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