eBay, the multinational e-commerce shop, do not often change its logos. Over twenty years of its existence it has happened twice.
eBay Logo Meaning and History
When Pierre Omidyar launched eBay in 1995, he didn’t think much about a symbol for it. In fact, there was no logo in the true sense of the word, just plain text “eBay” written in black color in Times New Roman. It proves the fact that the founder did not take seriously his brainchild. At least until he found out that it was extremely successful.
The same year eBay introduced a new logo with a different font, featuring overlapping transparent letters. One more essential change was the color palette of the eBay logo ‒ each of the four letters had its own color. More than that, they were of different width, height and were far from being lined up.
Though the name of the business has always been written with the capital “B”, the designers made it lowercase in the logo. They felt it was a kind of a road block and capitalized the “Y” instead, which also contributed to the quirky effect. The eBay logo is a good example of how creative a logo can be even if it is just a wordmark.
The overlapping letters of the eBay symbol point to the strong connections in the eBay community. The color palette of the eBay logo suggests not only fun-filled experiences in shopping, but also the idea that the site is accessible and friendly.
Current eBay Logo
The customers saw the next iteration of their favourite electronic store’s logo only 17 years after the first one appeared. The update, carried out by Lippincott, included a change in the typeface and the colors. Though the change in the palette was not so noticeable at first sight, the logo underwent a significant overhaul.
Now the letters are not overlapping. They are of equal width and lined up. All of them are lowercase. The letter “e” is of a darker shade of red. The letter “b” is not indigo, but blue. The rest of the letters remain the same colors. Despite the rigid arrangement, they are touching as before ‒ a subtle hint that eBay’s community is connected and diverse. It is proved by the fact that more than 100 million people from all over the world regularly visit the site where they can buy everything they need from a shirt to tech products and, of course, a mystery box.
eBay Logo Font
In both versions of its logo eBay uses the font called Univers. In the old logo it looks thicker, while in the current one it is thinner.
