The changes underwent by Twitter’s bird logo demonstrate the popularity of cleaner, simpler logos in this day and age.

The famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) social media site Twitter is celebrating its tenth birthday. Over its ten years of existence, Twitter has gone through a multitude of logos. We have discussed some of them before, but very little weight in the article was given to the main attraction: Larry the Twitter bird itself, which has undergone some interesting changes over the course of its existence. This article aims to correct the oversight.

This first iteration of the bird, it seems, was not quite sure what to make of itself. The logo is detailed and “cute” enough to almost work as a mascot, but the milky white eyes of the bird damage that dynamic a little.

Perhaps realizing this, Twitter decided to go full mascot with Larry’s next incarnation, which sports cartoonish eyes, a funny little tuft of feathers on the head, and even tiny legs.

This Larry seems to be a crossover between the previous two, still cartoonish but less detailed than the second one. Notably, the poor thing seems to be missing its legs, which can’t be convenient for landing. That being said, those stubby little wings can’t ever have been convenient for flying, either.

Twitter then chose to scrap the cartoonish look of the bird altogether, going with a uniformly colored silhouette, which in shape resembles the previous logo, though with more… wing-like wings.

The modern Larry is even more stylized than its predecessor and has lost the one last cartoonish feature the previous bird had: the tuft of feathers on its head.

This makeover is hardly surprising: simple logos are the norm nowadays, especially for social media companies, whose logo must be easily condensed into a small, but still memorable icon. But, as iconic as the new Twitter bird is, do you feel a little nostalgic for the cuteness of the old Larries? Or are they merely awkward relics of a bygone era?

About the Author:

Daniil Stoenko is a professional writer and translator who produced a variety of articles for LogoBee’s Logo Design Blog over the years.