The logo of the employment website Indeed looks unique and memorable without sacrificing legibility. There is also a hint at the brand’s promise. Taking all this into consideration, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the company has been pretty loyal to its logo and reluctant to introduce changes to it even when the design of the whole website was modified.
In 2005, the beta version of the website went live. The scheme used can be described as pay-per-click job advertising. The brand was registered a year earlier by Paul Forster and Rony Kahan.
In the fall of 2010, the website became America’s highest-traffic job website leaving Monster.com, its main competitor, behind.
What is Indeed?
Indeed is a US-based employment website for job listings, a subsidiary of the Japanese company Recruit Co. Ltd.
The Indeed logo is basically a wordmark, with a tiny pictorial element. This is why the choice of typeface plays such an important role in understanding the overall concept behind the design.
The letters are lowercase, without serifs. The ends are rounded, and the strokes have slightly varied thicknesses. There is something “liquid” and “handwritten” about the type, which conveys friendliness and a personal touch.
The glyphs have classic proportions based on the oval shape – nothing that could be described as extravagant. And yet, the design does have a unique feel due to the customized initial “i.” Here, the dot is by far larger than it has to be, and the top of the vertical line has been modified. As a result, the glyph is reminiscent of a human figure, which makes perfect sense as the company wants to emphasize that it works for people. The designers have gone even further and covered the “i” with a swoosh. It looks like a shield symbolizing the financial security you get from a good job.
The “human” theme is essential for understanding the Indeed logo, as even the name of the brand seems to allude to the words like “individual” or “individually.”
That said, the authors of the logo have managed to combine this personal touch with a serious, business-like mood.
The redesign of 2021 has introduced a rethought and strengthened version of the Indeed logo, with the same style and contours of the letters, the same delicate graphical element above the first letter, and the same position of the solid dot and the vertical bar of the “I”. The only difference between the new and the old Indeed badges is the color. The bright blue shade was replaced by a deeper and calmer one, creating a more professional and reliable image of the company.
The logo has been always based on blue, although it hasn’t been exactly the same shade. While the older version comes in a more vivid and lighter hue, the following one is already darker and more serious. One of the reasons might be the way the Indeed logo is positioned on the webpage – it shouldn’t steal the limelight from the “Sign in” button.
The meticulously developed type has a pronounced personal touch without losing its overall business style. If you’re looking for a font similar to the one on the Indeed logo, you may try Arial Rounded Bold published by Monotype.
One of the reasons behind its popularity has been that it finds and publishes job listings from thousands of other resources, from job boards to employment agencies and even company career pages.