The Zoom Logo and the History of the App
The Zoom logo is mainly just the wordmark with the word “Zoom.” The full version consists of the wordmark and a camera emblem on top of it. This is the one and only logo version that the company has used since its inception in 2011.
Zoom is a video conferencing service provided by Zoom Video Communications, a technology company based in Silicon Valley. The company was founded in 2011, but the software was introduced in 2013. Thanks to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the company has experienced exponential global growth, making it one of the most recognizable brands in the world.
Zoom Logo Meaning and history
In the modern world, where many brands keep leaping from one logo to another, Zoom has insisted on maintaining its visual brand identity. The design of their logo has remained the same for the ten or so years that the brand has been in existence.
Wordmark
The font type used for the Zoom wordmark is an exemplar of legibility and minimalism. The overall shape and proportion of the letters give a classic look, even if they may seem generic at first. However, these classic glyphs are highly legible and work great at any size.
The logo designers also managed to add a unique touch to the ends of the letters “Z” and “m.” They neither give an appearance of roundedness or sharpness but a combination of both aspects. This effect creates a fluid appearance, which adds a dynamic touch to the otherwise static design.
The logo design gets additional meaning and functionality when the wordmark is combined with the emblem. The camera drawn on the emblem is rounded on two of its edges, while the two other ends take on a right-angle shape. The result is that the two elements of the logo are in harmony with each other. The use of the same color for both also plays a role in the overall harmony.
The emblem is composed of a camera icon with a blue roundel, with white and gray outer rings forming the borders. These rings are meant to add some visual depth. Sometimes, a negative color scheme is used, and the elements may also swap positions. The meaning of the logo is made apparent with the video camera—the teleconferencing function of the Zoom application.
Zoom Logo Evolution
2011 – Present
Since its first appearance in 2011, the Zoom logo has remained unchanged. The designers opted for a simple approach, depicting the company’s name in lowercase letters and no additional elements. This simple but catchy look has become one of the program’s distinctive features.
Zoom Logo Design Elements
The Zoom logotype is composed of sky blue lettering with some rounded corners. This design communicated the brand’s basic principles: simplicity, boldness, and minimalism. A marketing team was assigned the design job—it was responsible for the design concept as well as creating the typeface.
The logotype has no additional elements, and any other versions depicting more elements or some modification to the design are considered violations of the branding rules.
Colors: Zoom’s signature is the distinctive light blue shade. This color is most commonly known as sky blue, although it is identified in the company’s circles as “Zoom Blue.” There are a few reasons to explain why the company chose this color.
First off, most tech companies use a shade of blue for their logotypes, making it a rather obvious choice. The brand also opted for a lighter, eye-catching hue, which helps make it more recognizable.
The light blue logotype is depicted on a white background. This combination communicates simplicity, which is one of the company’s main principles. The same tint can be found on all of the company’s properties and materials, including the website, software, and display advertisements.
Font: The Zoom font is written in a custom typeface created specifically for the logo. Some corners of the letters are rounded, while others are elongated and curved slightly to appear like short serifs. But this stylization can only be attributed to the designer. The font is no serif, as the general letter outline was adapted from the Kaleko 205 typeface.
The designers used the modern grotesque typeface as a basis and modified it for the software company’s logo. The choice of font was based on its superb readability, balance, and dynamism. The rounded ends give the letters a casual, friendly appearance.
The custom logo lettering complements the company’s typeface of choice, which is Lato. This font was chosen by the branding team specifically because they needed to create a consistent visual identity for the brand. For this reason, the logo is inextricably connected to the platform’s other visual elements—the corporate typeface as well as the palette.
Icon: The Zoom icon consists of a blue circle placed against a white square background with rounded edges. Inside the blue circle is a stylized camera image facing the right side.
Some of the angles of the contours are rounded, and the others angled sharp. The icon is sometimes also displayed in a monochrome version.
Zoom Company History
Zoom Cloud Meetings is one of the most popular video and conferencing platforms in the world. It is known best for its high-definition conferencing and video chat. The platform rose to global fame thanks to the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, which forced many office workers to work from home.
There is a free plan available for the regular individual user and paid plans for up to 1,000 concurrent conference participants.
There’s a rather romantic story behind the idea for Zoom. Back in the early 90s, Eric Yuan had to travel 10 hours by train to see his girlfriend. This was often quite difficult, so he imagined a way to see her without having to travel.
After immigrating to America, he started working for WebEx, a video conferencing corporation based in California. Despite rising to the VP position, Yuan was not happy with the company’s progress, as many users were dissatisfied with the software. In 2011, Yuan finally quit WebEx to start his own company.
WebEx Years
Around 1997, Yuan had witnessed the rise of American internet giants such as Yahoo and Netscape. Believing that his home country China was still some way off from scaling the heights of America’s tech ecosystem, Yuan sought entry into the United States to pursue a career in tech. However, the consulate officials rejected his visa application eight times.
On the ninth try, Yuan was finally granted a visa to immigrate to the U.S. Soon after he landed in America, he moved to Silicon Valley. He was blown away by the number of startups involved in new and exciting technology projects, a far cry from his Native China. Soon after, Yuan landed a job at WebEx Communications. He was one of the engineers tasked with building the initial WebEx web conferencing software version.
WebEx was later acquired by Cisco for $3.2 billion in 2007. At that time, the company boasted over 2 million customers. Alongside the technology, Cisco inherited the WebEx team members, including Yuan. WebEx grew quickly under Cisco, while Yuan’s hard work earned him a number of promotions until he was finally appointed as the engineering VP.
In his VP role, Yuan oversaw tremendous growth of the software. He grew the engineering team from a handful of developers to a team of over 800 developers. The company’s annual revenue crossed the $800 million mark.
In 2011, as VP of engineering at Cisco, Yuan tried to urge his fellow executives to improve WebEx, the company’s teleconferencing software. At the time, the company’s web conferencing strategy did not make room for improving existing products. Never mind the fact that WebEx was a costly acquisition and a big part of Cisco’s business. His compatriots did not listen.
Undeterred, Yuan decided to take the path of the bold entrepreneur. He resigned soon after to start his own company, and that was the beginning of Zoom.
Launch and Growth
After working on the product for two years, Yuan and his team of about 40 engineers launched Zoom in 2013. In the beginning, the software could only host 15 people. By 2015, it was able to host a thousand users. In the same year, the app reached 10 million users.
The initial Zoom product was quite impressive. At first, it was only available as a web app and on the iOS platform. It was highly optimized to work well even on weak internet connections, with commendable video and audio quality. The app could also detect the user’s OS and screen resolution, so it worked seamlessly on mobile devices. Meeting attendees did not have to download anything—only the meeting hosts needed to have a Zoom account.
Zoom’s advantage wasn’t just in video and audio clarity, but also how well it worked on mobile. At the time, most web conferencing products, such as Vidyo, had a strong focus on hardware for desktop conferencing. With better hardware, the audio and video clarity could be improved.
This was deemed an important aspect, particularly for dedicated solutions such as telemedicine. The education sector also increasingly drove demand for better teleconferencing solutions, as web-based learning continued to soar in popularity. However, mobile was a weakness area for many providers, and Zoom moved quickly in to capitalize on the opportunity.
By 2017, Zoom had been classed as a “unicorn,” or a private company worth over a billion dollars. The company went public in 2019, with a valuation of $16 billion by the end of the IPO. Despite playing an integral role in the daily operations of many businesses, the stay-at-home orders brought about by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic shot the company into popularity all around the world. By March, the company had over 200 million daily users. This greatly increased the company’s stock value.
In just a few years, Zoom’s web conferencing product had gone from a little-known upstart to being used by millions of people. On top of that, the company was able to achieve profitability quickly, thanks to Yuan’s focus on product development and listening to the customer’s needs.
Privacy and Security Breaches
Despite the company’s success, Zoom has had to deal with its fair share of problems. In recent times, hackers have managed to access users’ video calls and disrupt their meetings. This is known as “Zoombombing,” where the hacker gains access to a meeting and displays explicit content. Because of this security issue, some businesses have ditched Zoom for smaller, more secure solutions.
In response, Zoom has issued guidelines on how users can prevent hacking and Zoombombing. Other security concerns have emerged, such as the app sending Facebook activity from iOS phones. A software patch was released to fix this problem, but the company is still being slammed for data mining. Members of Congress have also questioned its privacy policy after the company was sued for user data malpractice.
Workforce
Zoom had more than 2,500 employees as of 2020, with 1,396 working in the U.S. and the rest in international locations. About 700 Zoom employees work in a subsidiary company in China and design Zoom software.
Zoom announced it was planning to launch research and development offices in Phoenix and Pittsburgh in May 2020, aiming to hire around 500 engineers between these cities in the next several years. In July 2020, the company announced the launch of a new technology office in Bangalore, India, which will host business, IT, and engineering operations roles.
Wrapping Up the History of Zoom
The Zoom logotype is now one of the most recognizable in the world, thanks to the company’s recent explosion in popularity. The logo’s sky-blue lettering with the rounded corners conveys simplicity, minimalism, and boldness, which are the basic values championed by the company and its founder, Eric Yuan.
Despite its recent security issues, Zoom is now one of the most used applications. Thanks to the corona virus outbreak, Zoom has become the go-to app for online lessons as well as business meetings for millions of users. With new patches and software updates, Zoom is working towards maintaining trust with its users. As for Yuan, he is now worth over $5 billion dollars.
