The minimalist Databricks logo conveys the company’s seriousness in software development and the business nature of its digital products. The succinct symbol supports a work-focused atmosphere, reflected in the users’ interaction with the utilities.
Databricks: Brand overview
Meaning and History
The company started with the AMPLab project, emerging from the academic work at the University of California, Berkeley. Its goal was to create open-source software based on the high-level typed language Scala. The direction proved promising, so the group of scientists caught the attention of major digital industry representatives and integrated their firm. The name chosen for the company is maximally comprehensible based on its activity direction: it is formed from the words “data” and “bricks,” written together to signify a close interrelation for increased efficiency.
What is Databricks?
Databricks is an American software developer primarily associated with the Apache Spark project – an open-source utility for analyzing large-scale data in the cloud. The software company has been in existence since 2013, founded by a group of computer scientists, including Ali Ghodsi, Reynold Xin, Patrick Wendell, Matei Zaharia, Ion Stoica, Arsalan Tavakoli-Shiraji, and Andy Konwinski.
Old
The Databricks logo features two main elements: a graphic symbol (above) and text (below). Although they are different, both relate to the same concept – virtual blocks. The emblem depicts rectangular parallelepipeds stacked on top of each other, each with identical structure and size. The front corner of each element (closest to the viewers) is highlighted in dark red, while the other sides are painted orange. This creates the illusion of two downward arrows pointing to the name of the software company. The inscription is set in a lowercase font with large serifs of strict geometric shape, visually balancing the abundance of curves in the letters.
New
The redesign of the Databricks logo brought even more simplicity and minimalism. Two massive geometric figures were transformed into a unified structure drawn with one continuous line. It has a curved form, following the contours of rectangular parallelepipeds hanging one above the other. Their top and side faces are clearly visible, as are the wide arrows pointing downward. The letters are now devoid of massive serifs; they have become strictly grotesque. Furthermore, the new logo’s creators added boldness to the glyphs, turning them from graphite-black to coal-black.
Font and Colors
In the Databricks logos from different periods, two types of fonts were used: Newslab Light by Latinotype, with massive, smoothly cut serifs of geometric design, and Montreal Serial Medium by SoftMaker, with bold, blocky letters. The official palette consists of a contrasting combination of black (two shades) with red and orange.