Evolution of a Logo: Spinfree = 37signals
In the “you always learn something new” category: 37signals’ logo has nothing to do with what the company is named after.
Instead, it’s a slight modification of a logo from Jason Fried’s previous endeavor:
Jason Fried, founder of 37signals, asked me to design a logo for his business. At the time Jason’s business was called Spinfree and I proceeded to work on ideas loosely connected to the letters S & F. A fascination with metaballs led me to an idea I quite liked. Not only did it abstractly have the S & F, but could also be interpreted as J & F (Jason’s initials). Jason liked it as well. A couple months later Jason called me sad to say they had started a new company rendering the logo obsolete. After a description of the new company I looked at the logo and could see another aspect. Rotating the logo 90 degrees counter clockwise created an abstract figure with a hand in the air, almost as if to say “hello”. I affectionately called the logo “manlogo” and pitched it back to Jason.
Pretty cool. So the logo was originally the current 37signals logo rotated 90 degrees clockwise (seen below).
You can see where the connections come from now. They make up the S and the dots add the portions of the F.
Rotate 90 degrees CCW, and you have what we know today:
I totally see the “man waving” now. I always thought it represented the distant planets or stars or something. Amazing how things really come to pass.
