Like many well-known logos, the original Ethereum symbol was developed at the last minute, without much preliminary work. Its authors were Vitalik Buterin, who created Ethereum, and one of the early users, Texture.
The earliest Ethereum emblem was made of two summation symbols (∑) rotated to 45° to each side. The design resembled a diamond. This logo was used during the first steps of the product development and introduction. After the presale, a design contest was held. The winning design was a modified version of the original Eth logo.
The symbol is built around a rhomboid shape (octahedron). It’s surrounded by four triangles: two larger identical triangles are placed above it, while two more identical triangles are placed below. The rhomboid shape is separated from the two lower triangles by a white gap.
There’s been no official explanation of the Ethereum logo meaning, except that “it is an Octahedron in apparently a platonic solid” (George Hallam from Ethereum External Relations).
The wordmark featured the font called Roboto. The type belongs to a neo-grotesque sans-serif font family developed by Google for its Android system.
While both the symbol and the wordmark look very much like the classic Ethereum logo, they feature a different color. The insignia can only be used for Ethereum Dapps or Apps or where Ethereum is a key dependency part.
In addition to the regular logos, the brand uses special versions designed for regional Ethereum meetups. They vary by color and typically feature the colors of the flag of the country where the meetup is held. Alternatively, colors can be chosen to reflect cultural connections (i.e., rainbow pride).
The color scheme comprises white, black (HEX: 12100B), and several shades of grey. We can describe these shades taking the version of black mentioned above as the basis. The rhomboid at the center of the logo features the black color with the opacity level of 60%, the opacity level of the two triangles on the right is 80%, while the opacity level of the two triangles on the left is 45%. The rhomboid eventually turns out to be the darkest of all the areas as more than one element overlaps here. An all-white and all-black versions of the signature are also available.
The wordmark features dark grey (Hex: 3D3E3F). Additionally, there’s a dark shade of gold used for the “Powered by Ethereum” logo (HEX #KC3996B).