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For most of its life Zendesk's brand centred on a Buddha mascot. On 26 October 2016 it retired him, a move Ad Age headlined as Zendesk retiring its Buddha.

The reason was strategy. Zendesk was expanding from a single customer service product into a family of seven, launching Zendesk Connect and Zendesk Explore for customer data and analytics alongside Support, Help Center, Chat, Talk and Message. Founder and CEO Mikkel Svane said business software had too long been built for businesses at the expense of customers, for department silos and separate clouds, and that Zendesk would build for relationships first.

The identity, called Relationshapes, gives each product a logo made of two simple interacting shapes, standing for the business and the customer, each pair with its own personality. Together they make the company logo, a large Z built from those shapes. Chief creative officer Toke Nygaard said that, staying true to Zendesk's Danish roots, the team drew on the simple language of shapes in Danish design to create a brand with personality and flexibility. Fast Company covered it as a dynamic new brand inspired by classic Danish design.

Zendesk expected backlash over the Buddha and invited feedback; its own awards entry later reported an overwhelmingly positive response on social media.

The trade was right. The Buddha belonged to a help desk product; a company selling a suite of relationship tools needed a system that could stretch across products. The shapes do that, and they are well drawn. What was lost is a face: Relationshapes is clever as a system, but no one will ever love it the way people loved the Buddha.