The Squarespace logo has stayed almost the same from the very first day of the company history, except for the font and the color scheme.
The earliest emblem combined dark and light shades of green with a black text and white background. One of the distinctive features of the typeface was the unusual “Q”, where the “tail” was positioned not on the right side, but in the middle.
Originally, the logo was something of a banner. It’s a green rectangle with the mouse stylistically depicted on the left (as three distinct parts), ‘Squarespace’ written in the middle and ‘a new way of thinking about website publishing’ extending underneath the main wordmark from its center to the right side of the rectangle.
In 2004, they replaced green with a grey cloudy picture cut to fit the rectangle. The motto also changed to be ‘the intelligent way to publish’ in the same lowercase white letters.
These changes hit stronger. The emblem was supplanted with their iconic chain symbol – colored green here. The font for the main inscription changed to a square, futuristic font. The motto enjoyed more or less the same font, although the contents changed to ‘smarter web publishing’.
The background was now a mix of black and green, probably to resemble the Matrix.
The service continued using the old design, although the elements were rearranged in 2005. The rectangle turned to black, while everything else became white. They also moved the name of the service to the right. The motto started from the same point as the name in this edition.
Several more changes happened in 2006. The background became brown, and there were some objects that might be wiring, but it’s unclear. The emblem and the text were also driven closer together, while the motto changed alignment to the right side.
This one is based off the 2005 logo. The rectangle is slimmer, and it only holds the emblem and the name itself. They are closer together, and the chains now use grey as well as white.
The core visual metaphor of the small and seemingly simple Squarespace symbol is the chain links, which is supposed to stand for hyperlinks. This reminds us of the company’s specialization – website building and hosting. If you take a closer look, you will definitely notice the double “S”, created by the negative space.
Both the wordmark and the chain have grown bolder without changing their shape. The chain is often placed above the wordmark.
When in early 2014 Squarespace launched a service enabling anyone to create a simple logo on their own, it faced fierce criticism from professional designers, who claimed that the company was deliberately undermining their industry.
The sans serif uppercase typeface looks clear and minimalistic. It is perfectly legible.
The current color scheme includes only two colors, black and white. The colors may be reversed (the white emblem and lettering on the black background), but no other colors, except the two mentioned above, may be used.