SquarespaceCopied

Most tech brands come from Silicon Valley; Squarespace has always been a New York company. Turning ten, it refreshed its brand with DIA Studio, launching on 3 December 2018, It's Nice That reported. Squarespace's chief creative officer said New York had always been in the company's DNA, and that it wanted an unorthodox, screen-first identity because brands are no longer static but living and kinetic.

DIA's team was struck by the aesthetic of Squarespace's headquarters, and saw a parallel with New York modernist landmarks such as the Seagram Building and One Chase Plaza. From that came a typeface, Clarkson, developed with Swiss foundry Optimo. It references the mix of grotesk and neo-grotesk lettering across the city's transit system; its widened proportions add a slightly geometric, mechanical quality that DIA said also makes it more fashion-forward.

The core of the identity is motion. Everything reduces to one gesture: a square rotating in any dimension, seen through an isometric camera. The animation mimics the two-syllable cadence of saying 'square' and 'space'. Besides creating an optical illusion, the square frames text and images, acts as a transition and gives a flexible framework for the company's own team. DIA called it a shockingly obvious result whose interest lies in its endless flexibility across motion, interaction and still. Squarespace described the refresh as true to its belief in democratising good design for entrepreneurs.

It's Nice That called the result smart and adept.

Squarespace's own announcement listed the full scope: a new logo, a typeface, an entirely redesigned front site and a new Instagram feed. It described itself as one of very few technology companies that can truly call New York home, said the city shaped its mission to democratise good design for entrepreneurs and artists, and named Clarkson after its headquarters address. The redesigned homepage was meant to be more kinetic, giving visitors an overview of the platform the moment they land. A website builder rebranding its own website first is the most honest product demo it could stage.

A rotating square for a company called Squarespace is indeed obvious, and that is its strength: it takes a literal idea and makes it a behaviour, not a picture. Clarkson is the more lasting contribution, a typeface with real local character in a sector that usually buys anonymity.