Meetup is an online service helping to organize groups and events for like-minded people. It was established in the summer of 2002. Within several months after the website went live, over 50,000 users joined it. The company’s headquarters is located in New York City.
While the old Meetup logo gave a hint at what the service is about, it failed to conjure positive feelings and was difficult to work with. This made the company go for an update, which retained some of the brand’s visual heritage (the color and the casual handwritten style).
What is Meetup
Meetup has been known as an online tool for organizing groups and events for people with similar interests. It is typically used by individuals who want to share a hobby, find friends or enhance professional networking.
What was the old logo, generally? A handwritten name tag, something often used for the initial introductions. Some people would criticize this logo claiming that the tag alluded to the most awkward part of meetups. Instead of alluding to camaraderie and friendship, the logo featured something that was associated with social anxiety. Eventually, even the company’s spokesperson mentioned that it “represented the worst part of meeting up with new people.”
That said, we can’t but point out that the designers have tried their best to make the image as relaxing, casual, and friendly as possible in these circumstances. They opted for a laid-back handwritten style of typeface, which had a casual feel. Also, they added a vivid and warm color, red, a symbol of positive emotions, hearty feelings.
Apart from the psychological aspects, the tag logo had practical problems, too. Several variations of the logo were used, including the primary one with rounded corners, the square one, the slanted one, and even a circular version. However, none of them, apart from the rectangle, looked organic. This presented a huge issue for the company’s design team.
The new Meetup logo resolved many of the issues of its predecessor. Firstly, it left the name tag behind. Today, the logo exists in at least three versions: the app icon, the favicon, and the full logo.
The full version showcases the name of the brand in red over the white background. Similar to the previous logo, the script imitates handwritten style. Yet, this is a different script. It appears a little more casual due to the fact that the letters are sloped at various angles. Also, it has more breathing space, which is an improvement as the previous logo had a slightly crammed effect to it. It introduces the “link” theme, too, due to the links between the glyphs.
The favicon showcases the distinctive “M” in red. The app icon is slightly more diverse. Here, the “M” is white, and it is placed in a red blob. Around the larger blob in the center, there are also multiple smaller blobs. The design symbolizes a lot of people meeting up. While the meaning doesn’t appear too obvious and transparent, it does work on the subliminal level.
The new logo was developed by the agency Sagmeister and Walsh, which is headquartered in New York City.
It may seem that the updated design is targeted at the younger audience. Farah Assir, Meetup’s product design lead, acknowledges that as their colors and system are fresh, there is a chance that they might appeal to the young. And yet, he claims that this wasn’t their aim adding that the new logo makes the product “more accessible to a lot of people, regardless of age.”
The red color and the playful handwritten type have been the distinctive features of the Meetup logo, which remained with it even after the update. Nevertheless, the very shape of the type was changed, and there does seem to have been a slight shift in the palette.