Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform for creative projects, founded in 2009 and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. Its visual identity is built around a bold, rounded wordmark and a standalone “K” icon, both rendered in a single green color.
Design and History
Kickstarter’s current identity dates to November 2017, when the company unveiled a rebrand created by New York-based design studio Order in partnership with Kickstarter’s in-house design team. The project was briefed as “a haircut not a makeover,” and aimed to show that the crowdfunding platform had “grown up.” Order worked with Kickstarter’s leadership and design team to develop a chunkier wordmark and logo, new core typefaces, and an updated color scheme. The rebrand was timed to the platform’s 10th anniversary. [1] [2]
Order’s Hamish Smyth explained that the old wordmark used the same typeface as Dunkin’ Donuts, which gave Kickstarter “a bit of a childish look.” The studio explored a full “fat” alphabet, evolving the wordmark and K icon to build on the brand’s recognizable rounded letterforms. After completing most of the development, Order brought in type designer Jesse Ragan of XYZ Type to redraw every character. [1]
Kickstarter had first developed a new “K” mark in 2016 with design firm Gretel. Although that mark was eventually redrawn by Ragan, it served as the starting point for Order’s work. Order also developed robust identity guidelines to enable Kickstarter’s in-house team to roll out the new identity company-wide. [2]
The 2017 redesign replaced the previous two-color logo, which used black and green, with a single-color mark. The new lettering was drawn “as far as legibility allows,” inflating the rounded forms that had long characterized the brand. [3]
Meaning and Symbolism
Order chose to make the mark a single color, a darker teal green, replacing the old lime green and black combination. Smyth said the studio hoped the new color would “keep the playful spirit of the original logo, while feeling a little bit more established and custom made for Kickstarter.” [1] The official brand color is listed as hex #05ce78 on Kickstarter’s brand assets page. [4]
Typography and Design
The new wordmark was drawn by type designer Jesse Ragan, one half of XYZ Type. [1] The redesign also introduced two new website typefaces: Cooper Light, a serif cut of the typeface family best known for Cooper Black, and Maison Neue. Smyth noted that Cooper Light’s curves reflected the curves in the new wordmark, and that using a serif as the primary typeface lent Kickstarter “a more editorial feel.” [1] [3]
Kickstarter’s official brand assets page provides high-resolution versions of the logo and other assets for creators, backers, and members of the press to download. [5]
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