CREDO Mobile is a San Francisco-based mobile virtual network operator that traces its roots to Working Assets, a company founded in 1985 by Peter Barnes, Michael Kieschnick and Laura Scher to fund progressive social change through business revenue. The company’s visual identity centers on a text-only orange wordmark that has remained consistent since the brand adopted the CREDO name.
Design and History
Working Assets launched its wireless division as Working Assets Wireless in 2000. In November 2007, the company announced it was changing the name to CREDO Mobile to better reflect its values, specifically a belief that people can effect progressive change. The long-distance service was renamed CREDO Long Distance at the same time. [1] [2]
Around 2015, the company’s roughly 30-year-old brand was reimagined by FortyFour, a design agency that handled branding, marketing strategy and digital marketing for CREDO Mobile. The agency’s project description notes that CREDO’s brand needed to be reimagined to keep sales high and support the company’s mission of funding progressive nonprofits. [3]
CREDO has publicly stated that it does not alter its logo for Pride Month or other seasonal campaigns. In blog posts from 2019 and 2025, the company explained that it never changes its logo during June because its brand stands for LGBTQ equality year-round, and the logo has always symbolized support and solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. [4] [5]
Meaning and Symbolism
The CREDO name itself derives from the Latin word for “I believe,” which the company has used to signal its values-driven mission. The wordmark is rendered in a vibrant orange, a color choice that distinguishes CREDO from the blue and red palettes commonly used by mainstream telecommunications carriers. The company’s own communications describe the logo as symbolizing support and solidarity with progressive causes, particularly LGBTQ+ equality. [5]
Beyond the primary wordmark, CREDO has used a supplementary icon system depicting political issues. A series of icons representing women’s rights, universal health care, peace, workers’ rights, social justice, renewable energy, economic justice, marriage equality and the environment was developed for use in advertising and on social media to educate and motivate CREDO’s customers. [6]
Typography and Design
The CREDO wordmark uses bold, uppercase sans-serif letterforms with substantial weight and tight spacing. The all-caps treatment and geometric construction give the mark a direct, assertive appearance that works across mobile apps, website headers, billing statements and marketing materials without requiring a separate icon or symbol. The text-only format emphasizes clarity and directness, matching the company’s straightforward model of donating a percentage of revenue to progressive nonprofits. [3]
The designer of the original CREDO wordmark has not been publicly documented. FortyFour’s rebranding work in the mid-2010s is the only agency attribution confirmed for the brand’s visual identity. [3]
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.
