Block (formerly Square, Inc.)Copied

In December 2021 Square, Inc. announced it was changing its corporate name to Block. The company's release explained that the Square name had become synonymous with the seller business, and the change let that business own the brand it was built for. Cash App, TIDAL and TBD54566975 would keep their own brands, and Square Crypto would become Spiral.

Co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey said the Square brand had been built for the seller business, which is where it belongs, and that Block was a new name with the same purpose of economic empowerment. Design Week quoted the company on the name's many meanings: building blocks, neighbourhood blocks and their local businesses, block parties full of music, a blockchain, a section of code, and obstacles to overcome.

The logo was explained through a launch film. Design Week described square logos representing the Block brands stacked into a cube, then twisted and abstracted into the new mark. The primary logo is animated and should be used in place of a static one wherever possible, with the cube twisting through an ever-changing oil-slick-like finish. The vivid palette contrasts with the muted monochrome of the Square identity, and the simple sans-serif wordmark gave way to a blockier all-caps font. At publication, Block could not confirm whether the work had been done in-house or externally.

The name change is sound brand architecture: the parent gets out of the way of its best-known product.

The animated logo is more questionable. A mark that only fully works in motion is fragile on a share certificate or a lanyard, and the oil-slick finish ties the brand closely to the moment's crypto aesthetic.