The new brand: X for accuracy or X for anonymity?
Elon Musk drew an X on the blue bird that has symbolized Twitter since the creation of the social network in 2006.
An X that erases it and replaces it.
Appearing on Twitter on Monday morning, the new logo features the shape of a black X with one of the bars hollowed out – an inspiration from Art Deco-style typefaces, the businessman said.
But what X is it?
That of the signature of an illiterate or an anonymous author? That of the multiplication symbol or the algebraic unknown?
Multiplication of services
Elon Musk and the company’s new chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, said last weekend that the platform, under its new identity, would branch out into payments, banking and commerce of all types. On October 4, 2022, the polyentrepreneur had already tweeted that the purchase of Twitter, at a price of 44 billion, was “an accelerator for the creation of X, the universal application” (the everything app).
“He had already spoken of a great application, so it’s not new”, comments Luc Dupont, professor of communication at the University from Ottawa. “But changing the name of a company, or at the very least of an application as he does, is always a perilous exercise. Because in people’s mind, Twitter is about tweets. And what we are told is that soon, it will no longer be quite that. Musk will use the business of the 300 million people who are on the platform to launch something else entirely. »
Do current users want these other things? These precious tweeters had precisely made their nest with the chirps.
People who are currently on Twitter are not looking for new financial apps or ordering food or watching a movie. That’s the danger. And this is no small danger.
Luc Dupont, professor of communication at the University from Ottawa
Another pitfall looms.
“If we had spoken, you and I, a year ago, we would have probably thought that Twitter has no competitor. But there are three now. »
The decentralized social network Mastodon, Bluesky, of the founder of Twitter Jack Dorsey, and Threads, of Mark Zuckerberg, are now competing with him for his clientele.
Justified change
However, since Twitter radically changed its vocation, the name change found a justification.
“There was a need for change anyway,” said Benoit Skinazi, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Sharethrough, a company that helps websites and mobile apps monetize their ad space.
“It’s a particularly complicated business situation, with a brand image that is quite tarnished. The past few months have seen a lot of upheaval, including layoffs. »
In this context, a drastic change of image makes it possible “to mark a real break between before and after Twitter”, he observes.
Simplicity is not an obstacle to notoriety, he recalls.
“Often the logos that work the best are the simplest logos. We’ve seen it with brands like Nike. But the symbol of anonymity presents an unusual challenge. “Today, in our world, managing to have a company called X is almost mission impossible, in fact. »
Elon Musk wants to succeed in this bet, which is in fact a long-standing obsession.
“What he is saying is that he is symbolically taking possession of the letter X, in the same way that Barbie has taken possession of the color pink for two months, argues Luc Dupont. It’s the same strategy basically, it’s branding 101.”
The letter X has long been part of Elon Musk’s universe.
“He started x.com bank in 1999, which eventually became PayPal,” he says. He created SpaceX, Tesla’s Model X. He launched xAI last week. »
The letter X has long been phonetically associated with accuracy: Timex, Lexus, Xerox.
“In the minds of people, in the minds of ordinary mortals, I am now convinced that this letter belongs to him.
“Now what remains is the most difficult step: delivering. »
A discussed and questionable design
The new logo “made the news [hier] morning on all the design blogs,” says Isabelle Allard, creative director, design, at Sid Lee.
The company shake-ups heralded branding and image changes, “but we didn’t expect a total rebranding of its name and logo,” she says.
“Twitter is one of the most famous logos in the world. To erase it completely is surprising. At the same time, it’s very Elon Musk, we can’t be surprised. »
“But I think it’s visually that’s the most shocking,” she adds. The result, the X, is extremely astonishing. »
X is a name and a symbol reduced to their most innocuous expression, close to insignificance.
“There’s just a big brand like this that can afford to own such a simple symbol. »
The expert looks at the logo with a critical eye.
“He’s not very well balanced,” she notes. At first glance, it’s so simple that it looks like a first sketch. »
Rumor has it that it is only a preliminary version, still subject to improvement. “It’s weird, I’ve never seen that, a prebranding, never! When you rebrand, you open the door to criticism. Each time, we try to be as well prepared as possible for the launch of the brand. There, it really seems to have been done at short notice, as if we could no longer bear this bird.
“On the other hand, we feel that it opens the door to something completely new. It’s an X on the past, we feel it. »