Sonic is a telecommunications company and internet service provider based in Santa Rosa, California, operating as a competitive local exchange carrier in the Bay Area, Sacramento and Los Angeles markets. The company was founded in 1994 as a dial-up internet provider and has since expanded into fiber-optic broadband service. [1]
Design and History
Sonic’s current visual identity centers on a registered trademark depicting a black letter “S” enclosed in a circular blue line, with the space inside the circle rendered in white. The mark was registered to SONIC.NET, LLC on July 12, 2016, with black, white and blue claimed as features of the mark. [2]
The company operated for two decades under the name Sonic.net before rebranding. When Dane Jasper co-founded the company in 1994, he settled on the .net domain because Sonic.com was already registered by another California company, Sonic Solutions. Over the years, Jasper found drawbacks to operating as Sonic.net, including customer confusion and emails accidentally sent to the wrong domain. After Sonic Solutions was acquired by Rovi and later sold its products to another company, Jasper sent a letter to the company’s CFO inquiring about acquiring the domain. Sonic.net struck a deal and also later acquired the @sonic Twitter handle. With both in hand, Sonic.net officially rebranded as simply Sonic in late 2014. [3]
Customers noticed the new logo appearing on company equipment around November 2014, with one forum user commenting positively on the updated mark. [4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The registered trademark description documents the mark’s visual elements: a black letter “S” enclosed in a circular blue line on a white background. [2]
Typography and Design
The logo is a text-based emblem built around a single letterform. The trademark registration describes the mark as a black letter “S” enclosed in a circular blue line, with white space inside the circle. [2]
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