# Airbnb new logo (2014)

> Airbnb launched a new logo on 16 Jul 2014, designed by DesignStudio. Bélo symbol and new identity.

## Key facts

- Brand: Airbnb
- Launched: 16 Jul 2014
- Studio: DesignStudio
- What changed: Bélo symbol and new identity.
- Why: Airbnb said it was no longer about renting space but about belonging, and its new Bélo symbol was meant to represent people, places, love and the letter A.
- Industry: Consumer internet
- Logos: https://rebrandlog.com/logos-ovr/airbnb-2014/before.svg (before), https://rebrandlog.com/logos/airbnb-2014/after.png (after)

## The rebrand, explained

By mid-2014 Airbnb had outgrown its startup-era look. On 16 July it launched a flat redesign of its site and apps, removing drop shadows and adopting a system-wide font, and replaced its logo with a single-line symbol it named the Bélo.

Co-founder and chief executive Brian Chesky framed the change in a long post titled Belong Anywhere, arguing that Airbnb was no longer about renting space but about belonging. The Bélo was meant to represent four things at once: people, places, love and the letter A.

The Bélo is a single continuous line that loops into something resembling a capital A. Airbnb pitched it as the universal symbol of belonging, and invited hosts to make their own variations for their profiles, a neat way to turn a logo into a participatory tool. Design Week and Dezeen both credit the London studio DesignStudio with the work.

The reception was rough at first. The Next Web called it controversial and pointed out it looked almost identical to the existing logo of Automation Anywhere; the two companies later said the similarity was a coincidence and that Automation Anywhere was moving to a new design.

The internet had other readings. Within a day, as The Guardian reported, Twitter and Tumblr were full of parodies arguing the shape resembled genitalia, while USA Today's headline settled on calling it interesting.

Business Insider captured both sides on launch day. Brian Chesky said the Bélo was a symbol anyone could create, drawn on a mirror or etched in sand, that the team had looked to marks from the Olympic rings to the Batman symbol, and that where most brands would send a cease-and-desist letter to people recreating their logo, Airbnb wanted the opposite; it promised a tool to customise the A and released versions for the World Cup semi-finalists. Twitter, meanwhile, filled with jokes about what the shape resembled. The design firm's founder told the outlet the jokes did not worry him, since the same thing had happened with the London 2012 Olympics logo, and that the staff had moved into Airbnb's offices on four continents to understand the company, after Chesky insisted there was no difference between its employees and its community.

Time has been kinder than the launch week. The Bélo is simple enough to draw from memory and flexible enough to carry a whole brand without the name, which is exactly what a symbol is for. The belonging language now reads as very 2014, but the mark itself has held up.

In short: Mocked on day one, quietly one of the decade's most durable symbols.

## Sources

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbnb
- https://design-studio.com/work/airbnb
- https://thenextweb.com/dd/2014/07/16/airbnb-updates-design-introduces-new-belo-logo/

## Cite this

Rebrand Log, "Airbnb new logo (2014)", https://rebrandlog.com/rebrand/airbnb-2014/, last updated 2026-10-20.