- The original Twitter wordmark and clip-art bird
- Larry the Bird: the first Twitter bird of its own
- The 2012 Twitter bird redesign
- From the Twitter bird to the X logo
- Twitter logo timeline at a glance
- Why the Twitter logo changes still matter to marketers
- Logo lessons for small business owners
- Frequently asked questions
The logo of Twitter started as the word Twitter with a clip-art bird in 2006. In 2009 the cartoon-style Larry the Bird arrived, and on June 5, 2012 a simpler bird by Douglas Bowman replaced the wordmark. In July of 2023 Elon Musk announced the rebrand to X and a double-struck X logo.
Few logos have been as recognisable as the little blue Twitter bird, and few have been dropped as suddenly. If you've searched for the logo of Twitter, you're probably after one of two things: what it looked like at each stage, or why it changed to an X. I've traced the story below using the Wikipedia entry for Twitter, which pulls the dates together with references, and I've described each logo in words rather than pictures. Then, because I work with business owners, I've added what the whole saga teaches anyone thinking about their own logo.
The original Twitter wordmark and clip-art bird
Twitter was created in March of 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams, and launched publicly on July 15, 2006. It started life as "twttr" and became Twitter a few months later.
According to Wikipedia, the first logo was simply the word Twitter, accompanied by a bird image, and it's described as being in use from March of 2006. The bird wasn't drawn for Twitter at all. It was a piece of clip art created by the British graphic designer Simon Oxley. That detail matters later: a brand built on a borrowed image had good reason to want a bird it owned outright.
Larry the Bird: the first Twitter bird of its own
In 2009, co-founder Biz Stone redesigned the logo with designer Philip Pascuzzo. The result was a more cartoon-like bird. It picked up a name too: Larry the Bird, after Larry Bird of the NBA's Boston Celtics.
Within a year, Stone and Pascuzzo stripped out the cartoon features, leaving a solid bird silhouette. Wikipedia says that silhouette was used from 2010 through 2012. It's the version many early users remember, sitting next to the Twitter name.
The 2012 Twitter bird redesign
On June 5, 2012, Twitter unveiled a modified logo on its company blog. The big change was that the text went. From then on, the bird alone stood for the brand, much as a tick or an apple stands alone for other companies.
Designer Douglas Bowman created this further simplified version. It kept the solid silhouette and is described as resembling a mountain bluebird. It was known simply as the "Twitter Bird", and Wikipedia says it stayed in use until July of 2023. For more than a decade, that small blue bird was on app icons, websites, business cards and email footers around the world.
From the Twitter bird to the X logo
Elon Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter in October of 2022. On July 22, 2023, he announced that the platform would rebrand as "X", as part of his plan for an "everything app", and Wikipedia gives July 23, 2023 as the rebrand date in its history section.
The new logo is a stylised letter X in a double-struck, bold style. Wikipedia notes it resembles the Unicode character known as Mathematical Double-Struck Capital X. The bird was announced as being retired in July of 2023, and Wikipedia says the process was completed by May of 2024. On May 17, 2024, the domain changed from twitter.com to x.com.
The words changed too. What used to be called tweets are officially "posts" now, though plenty of people still say tweets. If you're hunting for older content from the bird era, my guide on how to see old tweets on X shows you where to look.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
Twitter logo timeline at a glance
| When | Logo or change | Who was involved |
|---|---|---|
| March of 2006 | Wordmark "Twitter" with a clip-art bird | Clip art by Simon Oxley |
| 2009 | Cartoon-style Larry the Bird | Biz Stone and Philip Pascuzzo |
| 2010 to 2012 | Solid bird silhouette | Biz Stone and Philip Pascuzzo |
| June 5, 2012 | Bird alone, text removed | Douglas Bowman |
| July of 2023 | Rebrand to X announced | Elon Musk |
| May 17, 2024 | Domain moves to x.com | X |
Why the Twitter logo changes still matter to marketers
The bird became so familiar that people kept using it long after it was officially retired. That's the strange power of a logo: it belongs to the company on paper, but it lives in customers' heads. When a brand changes it, people don't update their memories overnight. Plenty still say they'll "tweet" something, and they'll keep doing it for years.
It's also a reminder that a name and a symbol carry meaning beyond the design itself. Larry the Bird was friendly and a little playful. A double-struck X says something quite different. Whatever you think of either, the shift tells you the owners wanted the platform to be seen as something else.
Logo lessons for small business owners
- Own your artwork. The first Twitter bird was clip art. If your logo uses a stock image, you don't control who else uses it.
- Simplify as you grow. Each bird got simpler, because a simple mark works at tiny sizes on phones and favicons.
- Let the symbol stand alone when it's earned it. Twitter dropped the word only after years of recognition. A new business usually needs its name beside its mark.
- Plan the switch everywhere. The move to X took months to roll through apps, domains and wording. Before you change your logo, list every place it appears: website, social profiles, email signatures, invoices, signage.
- Expect people to cling to the old one. Tell customers what's changed and why, so the new look doesn't confuse them or look like an imitation.
If you're rethinking how you present yourself on X, my guides to changing your display name on X and getting a blue tick on X cover the practical side.
Frequently asked questions
What was the original Twitter logo?
Wikipedia describes the first logo as simply the word Twitter with a bird image beside it. The bird was clip art created by British graphic designer Simon Oxley.
What is the Twitter bird called?
The bird designed in 2009 was named Larry the Bird, after Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics. The 2012 version was called the Twitter Bird.
Who designed the 2012 Twitter bird?
Douglas Bowman created the simplified 2012 bird, which kept a solid silhouette and is described as resembling a mountain bluebird.
When did the Twitter logo change to X?
Elon Musk announced the rebrand to X on July 22, 2023. The bird's retirement was completed by May of 2024, and the domain moved to x.com on May 17, 2024.
What does the X logo look like?
It's a bold letter X in a double-struck style, similar to the Unicode character Mathematical Double-Struck Capital X.
