section_path: Branding
section_name: Branding
paragraph_text: Branding
  
  Before its rebranding to X, Twitter was internationally identifiable by its signature bird logo, or the Twitter Bird. The original logo, which was simply the word Twitter, was in use from its launch in March 2006. It was accompanied by an image of a bird which was later discovered to be a piece of clip art created by the British graphic designer Simon Oxley. A new logo had to be redesigned by founder Biz Stone with help from designer Philip Pascuzzo, which resulted in a more cartoon-like bird in 2009. This version had been named "Larry the Bird" after Larry Bird of the NBA's Boston Celtics fame.
  
  Within a year, the Larry the Bird logo underwent a redesign by Stone and Pascuzzo to eliminate the cartoon features, leaving a solid silhouette of Larry the Bird that was used from 2010 through 2012. In 2012, Douglas Bowman created a further simplified version of Larry the Bird, keeping the solid silhouette but making it more similar to a mountain bluebird. This logo was simply called the "Twitter Bird" and was used until July 2023.
  
  On July 22, 2023, Elon Musk announced that the service would be rebranded to "X", in his pursuit of creating an " everything app ". Musk's Twitter profile picture, along with the platform's official accounts, and the icons when browsing/signing up for the platform, were updated to reflect the new logo. The logo (𝕏) is a Unicode mathematical alphanumeric symbol for the letter "X" styled in double-strike bold.
  
  Mike Proulx of The New York Times was critical of this change, saying the brand value has been "wiped out". Mike Carr says the new logo gives a " ' Big Brother ' tech overlord vibe" in contrast to the "cuddly" nature of the previous bird logo. Users review bombed the newly rebranded "X" app on the iOS App Store on the day it was revealed, and Rolling Stone 's Miles Klee said that the rebrand "reeks of desperation".