One of the world’s largest artificial intelligence and internet companies, Baidu has a distinctive logo in two languages – English and Chinese.
The original Baidu badge, introduced by the company in 2000, was set in a bright blue and red color palette, with the heavy geometric “Bai” set in red, followed by the white lowercase “du” written across a solid blue paw. The badge looked pretty amateurish, with the letters set slightly unevenly above the line. This version stayed active for just a few months.
The redesign of 2001 has cleaned and strengthened the contours of all the elements in the badge, keeping the original concept and color palette. Now all characters became more stable and distinctive, creating a straighter and more balanced image of the whole badge.
In 2002 the Baidu badge got an addition — the red hieroglyphic inscription was added to the original logo on its right, representing the name of the brand in Chinese. As for the first part of the logo, it remained absolutely the same as in the previous version, with only one refinement — the shade of red became a bit lighter and brighter.
In 2005 the Baidu badge gets another redesign: the typeface of the lettering was changed to a more modern and futuristic one, and the color palette got a bit darker, and more intense, creating a feeling of a serious and professional approach, and making up a perfect image for the brand.
Baidu is a Chinese company that provides Web services, the main one being the search engine of the same name, the leader among Chinese search engines. Baidu was incorporated on January 18, 2000, by Robin Li and Eric Xu.
In December 2007, Baidu became the first Chinese company whose shares were included in the NASDAQ-100 index. In 2012Baidu announced that it would merge with Sina to provide mobile search results.
In 2014, the company went to the Latin American region and launched a Brazilian version of the search engine Baidu Busca. A few months later Baidu announced the acquisition of the local Brazilian e-commerce site Peixe Urbano.
In April 2017, Baidu announced the launch of its Apollo (Apolong) project, a platform for unmanned cars. A couple of months later, Baidu partnered with Continental and Bosch, suppliers to the automotive industry, on unmanned vehicles.
In January 2021, Baidu formed a joint venture with Geely Automobile to produce smart cars and unveiled a new Robocar concept capable of Level 5 autonomous driving.
What is Baidu?
Baidu is the name of a Chinese tech company, which was established in 2000, and by today has grown into one of the world’s most reputable colonies in the artificial intelligence segment. The search engine, developed by Baidu, is now ranked six in the Alexa Internet rankings.
In the middle of the Baidu logo, there’s a paw/pad. This might be interpreted as a paw of a dog, the animal known for its excellent search capabilities. Also, a paw mark symbolizes a track, something that helps you to find what you need.
As for the color palette of the Baidu visual identity, it is based on a bright and lively combination of blue and red, with very intense and vivid shades of both colors. The scheme stands for power and confidence, representing the professionalism of the company and its determination.
The bright shade of red is close to the Hex color #DE0F17. It’s the most popular color in China as it appears on the national flag and is supported by propaganda. The saturated and vivid blue is close to the following Hex shade: #2529D8. White is used for the background and as a secondary color.