Ever look at a crypto logo and ask…what were these people thinking?
I’ll be honest, for me that’s a common response to branding choices even outside of crypto. But just have a scroll down the top memecoins list and you’ll definitely get some good laughs when it comes to branding and logo design.
But not every crypto company is out to get those lolz with their visual brand. Some projects actually do take brand positioning and archetypes into consideration when they roll out visual designs. Let’s take a look at some popular crypto logos and try to understand them.
Shiba Inu
This memecoin was created as a challenger to Dogecoin, so of course it has to have a confrontational visual message and emotional vibe. The cartoon dog looks both memey and extremely serious at the same time—like it’s coming for your bone and all your Doge profits too. It’s aggressive and unapologetic in its brand positioning, which is fitting since it’s trying to topple the king memecoin. Shiba Inu also sports an orange that’s reminiscent of Bitcoin itself, subtly associating it in your subconscious with the daddy of all cryptocurrencies.
The ruler archetype fits best for SHIB since it’s definitely trying to rule the memecoin world.
USDC
This stablecoin logo is pretty much what you would expect it to be. Kind of corporate looking, a trustworthy blue, and to be honest, kinda meh. The company that issues USDC is called Circle so…well, it has a circle. It also has a dollar sign, which is likely to convey a meaning of…dollars. Its brand positioning is probably also meant to enrapture the kinds of investors who love stablecoins: scaredy cats who don’t like excitement volatility and just want a plain-jane, boring old digital currency that they can #trust.
USDC fits pretty well in the everyman archetype, which is kinda boring, just like stablecoins.
Uniswap
Ah, what a beaut! Whether you’re a DeFi degen or a pretty princess, you’ll love the Uniswap logo! The pink unicorn looks so friendly, magical, and fun that you can’t even be mad when you lose all your life’s savings trading into rug pulls on sketchy, unregulated exchanges. It borders on memey but it also has a serious ethos about it, sporting a little sparkle in its mane. One thing that makes it stand out among a lot of DeFi logos is that it’s not food. It’s also worth noting that the governance forum for Uniswap has been discussing a branding change to differentiate Uniswap Protocol (the DEX) from Uniswap Labs (the crypto company). The new unicorn looks a little more medieval, but it’s still pink.
I’d say Uniswap is trying to pull off a magician archetype in its brand positioning.
Decentraland
If the Decentraland logo doesn’t make you long for a quest or voyage, I don’t know what will. To me, it kind of gives off an-Egyptian-version-of-Patagonia vibe. The pyramids in a desert landscape, watched over by two suns, look futuristic and yet ancient at the same time. The warm colors make you want to grab up your own piece of NFT land in the metaverse and enjoy a sunset in the virtual future.
This crypto company’s brand positioning is consistent with an explorer archetype and evokes a sense of adventure.
Solana
This underdog blockchain that’s trying to poach the NFT market from Ethereum has an interesting visual brand. Is it a blockchain? An accordion? The blinds when you jiggle them back and forth in the window? I’m not entirely sure. I suppose one positive is that once you know it represents Solana, it’s recognizable. To me, however, it’s unclear exactly what it’s supposed to be. Perhaps it’s a stylized S for Solana, perhaps it’s the shadowy side of a server node lighted by LEDs—who knows. There is some brand analysis that throws out ideas, describing it as an accidental brand positioning in “a retro sci-fi, cosmic horror, alien future.” I buy it.
At any rate, I think that’s enough to go on for placing this crypto company into the sage archetype.
Pax Dollar
Another vaguely confusing logo, Pax Dollar, is a more interesting stablecoin visual than USDC, but it looks like an avocado pit or a frying green egg, sans the ham. Perhaps it’s green money turning into digital gold, mixed with a little water to dilute its fiat-backed value. After all, the Pax Gold (a gold-back stablecoin issued by the same crypto company) logo is the same graphic but completely gold. Perhaps it’s supposed to represent circling and hovering around a stable price—or perhaps it’s money circling the drain.
There’s no clear meaning in my view, but I’m happy to let the crypto company embody an innocent archetype since it doesn’t seem to know that a cryptocurrency pegged to fiat is a very naive concept indeed.
Bitcoin
Here we are—the OG crypto. Bitcoin’s iconic orange stamp of victory. As triumphant a shade as Cheetos, the bright orange alerts you to its presence and grabs your attention. “Fiat who?” it almost shouts from the screen. If you know anything about its history, you can probably guess that Bitcoin did not come out of the womb with this branding. There’s even a branding history apart from the development of the coin itself. After the original logo was created by Satoshi Nakamoto, someone on the internet named Bitboy offered up this logo design that we all recognize today.
I think it’s safe to say that Bitcoin represents the hero archetype in its brand positioning.
Ethereum
Last but not least, the number two crypto company Ethereum has almost as iconic of a logo. It looks like a diamond. It looks like riches. The geometric shape is an octahedron, which is real neat and three dimensional. Some interpretations of the logo suggest it has some mystical meanings embedded in it, which I’m prepared to accept, even if the evidence is thin.
Because it is the king of smart contract blockchains and the home of so many innovations in the cryptosphere like DeFi and NFTs, Ethereum fits nicely into the creator archetype.
Which crypto company logos are your favorite?
Every crypto company has some visual design to represent it—that’s the digital branding and marketing saturated world we live in.
But another interesting thing to consider is how logos are created.
In the legacy world of centralized companies, boards of directors, committees, creative teams, and hierarchical company structures, logo design tends to be a painful creative process in many cases. In the world of peer-to-peer and DAOs, community input and collaboration probably make the logo design process a bit different.
I’m still undecided on whether, as a creator, it would be easier or more difficult to design good branding with community input and voting or corporate overload with strong opinions. Maybe we should all go out and start our own crypto company to find out.
What are your thoughts? Do you have any favorite crypto logo designs with the best brand positioning? Let me know if you do!
About the Author
Michael Hearne
About Decentral Publishing
Decentral Publishing is dedicated to producing content through our blog, eBooks, and docu-series to help our readers deepen their knowledge of cryptocurrency and related topics. Do you have a fresh perspective or any other topics worth discussing? Keep the conversation going with us online at: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
