Wattpad Logo PNG
The emblem’s clear, three-dimensional strokes suggest a wide range of perspectives. The Wattpad logo embodies communication, information, and a love of prose that brings writers and readers together. Everyone will find content they like on the platform’s pages.
Wattpad began with a mobile reading idea, not a traditional publishing plan. Allen Lau, born in Hong Kong, moved to Toronto in 1989 and later studied electrical engineering at the University of Toronto. After working at IBM and the mobile startup Tira Wireless, he noticed people were willing to read long texts on their phones. In 2006, he teamed with Ivan Yuen, who had been building a web app for publishing stories, and they launched Wattpad from Lau’s dining room.
The early platform was built for smartphones before the iPhone existed. Hosting cost $5 a month, and the idea combined mobile access with user-generated writing; at the same time, YouTube was changing online video. The first years were difficult because users mostly read rather than post. Growth improved after Wattpad simplified writing, uploading, and editing tools.
Mobile apps followed in 2009: iPhone in March, BlackBerry in April, Android in June. By mid-2009, downloads passed 5 million. Investors arrived later, including Union Square Ventures in 2011, Khosla Ventures in 2012, OMERS in 2014, and Tencent Holdings in 2018. As stories gained tens of millions of reads, Wattpad Studios launched in 2017 to move popular works into film and television, including After and Netflix’s The Kissing Booth.
Wattpad Books opened in 2019, using machine learning and reader data to select manuscripts, with distribution through Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Raincoast Books. Paid Stories grew from the 2018 Wattpad Next beta. In January 2021, Naver Corporation agreed to buy Wattpad for $600 million, closing the deal in May. Together with Webtoon, Naver’s reading platforms reached over 166 million monthly users.
Meaning and History
The library’s primary source was Project Gutenberg, a collection of world literature collected and digitized by enthusiasts over several decades. As a result, more than 17,000 works were added to Wattpad’s shelves, replenishing the PG collection from 1971 to 2007. Ivan Yuen and Allen Lau initiated the project to make the texts available to mobile phone owners.
But that wasn’t all: new authors and books constantly appear on the platform, and volunteers continually work to improve the community. One symbol of Wattpad’s development is its modern logo: an inscription featuring a stylized letter “W.” Smooth, curved, streamlined lines create a sense of movement. It contrasts with the old trademark, which had many corners.
2006 – 2017
The Wattpad project launched in 2006 under the same name. The brand’s creators used this name as the logo’s main element. They made the lettering white and outlined it with a thick orange line. Ivan Yuen found a free font to make the wordmark stand out while saving on design costs. Instead of the first letter “w,” an inverted “m” was used here. It also became the application icon, circled with a white stripe and placed in an orange square.
2018 – today
In 2018, the company undertook its first redesign, ditching the old free typeface for a custom typeface with rounded edges. As a result, the outlines disappeared, and the inscription became completely orange. A common horizontal line now connects the two “t” s in the middle of the word. It symbolizes communication among all community members.
At the same time, the Wattpad reader app has a new icon that bears no resemblance to the previous logo. It stands for “w” and looks like a sloppy brushstroke. It can be used in a square with an inscription or on its own. Creative agency DesignStudio is behind all the changes.
Font and Colors
The Wattpad icon conveys movement because book plots are constantly changing. Each story has its own dynamics and development path, and the designers tried to express this idea visually. The corporate identity is also not static; it constantly evolves to inspire users with new stories.
The old wordmark seemed outdated because it used the free Handel Gothic geometric font, dating back to the 1960s. The only non-standard element was the letter “w,” formed by inverting and mirroring an “m.” DesignStudio has selected a new, more dynamic typeface with rounded edges for Wattpad. Its approximate counterpart is TGL 0-16 Regular by Peter Wiegel.
Since 2006, the signature Hero Orange (# FF500A) has been the base of the color palette. It’s a vibrant, modern, energetic shade that epitomizes interesting user stories.