ProtonCopied

In May 2022 ProtonMail rebranded as Proton. MacRumors reported that the change came with a visual overhaul of the company's web-based services, with new logos, colours and an updated, modernised design for its new desktop and mobile apps, while existing account holders received a storage boost and features such as additional addresses and VPN connections at no extra cost.

Proton's announcement framed it as a step toward an internet that respects privacy, with new logos, colours and a modernised design that all Proton apps would share. A companion post explained the logic. The product icons were designed as portals you can pass through to reach a better internet, and they needed a family resemblance: similar size, weight and design, which the former icons did not have.

History was kept in the details. The Proton VPN icon retains its triangular shape, whose corners originally represented the three countries hosting its Secure Core servers. The Proton Mail icon is based on the bottom half of the original padlock. Each product keeps a subtle accent colour, so Proton VPN stays associated with green. The Proton P itself was given depth and dimensionality to echo the product logos.

This is a textbook move from a single product brand to an ecosystem, and it was overdue. ProtonMail had become a VPN, a calendar and a drive, and the old name made everything else look like an accessory to email.

Engadget emphasised the commercial side. Free accounts had been stuck at 500MB of storage, and the paid tier at a modest 4GB with a daily sending cap, so the rebrand came with updated plans that pushed users to adopt the whole suite of mail, VPN, cloud storage and calendar. Users could also pick an address at proton.me instead of protonmail.com. That is the honest reason behind most umbrella brands: one account is easier to sell than four. The portal icons make the bundle feel like a place, which is exactly what a bundle needs.

The portal icons are the smartest piece. Rather than copying the four-colour approach of the big platforms Proton positions itself against, it found a consistent form that still lets each product keep a trace of its past.