Elon Musk Updates the X Logo: A Subtle Change That Matters

In a surprising move, Elon Musk has made subtle changes to the X logo design.

Over the past few years, it has often appeared that Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has been preoccupied with his grand ambitions, perhaps more like a character from a spy movie than a focused businessman. His projects have faced various challenges, from issues with the Cybertruck to the controversial rebranding of Twitter into X. Many of his choices have come across as impulsive and poorly thought out.

Initially, the X logo design, which is simply a standard Unicode character, felt like a rushed decision. After attempting to give the logo a more edgy appearance based on Musk’s style, the company seemed to have a change of heart. A professional designer has now made adjustments to improve the logo, particularly to rectify an alignment issue that creates an optical illusion.

To provide some context, Musk didn’t initially realize that the X logo was just a Unicode character. This design was submitted by a user on the platform after Musk encouraged followers to suggest ideas overnight. The logo was proposed by former podcast hosts Alex J. Tourville and Sawyer Merritt, who generously offered their design at no cost.

Designer Will Paterson pointed out a flaw in the logo design, beyond its simplistic appearance. He explained that the logo suffered from the Poggendorff illusion, a phenomenon where the brain misjudges the alignment of intersecting lines. This made it appear as if the upper part of the X was not aligned with the lower segment.

In his follow-up video, Paterson emphasized that skilled logo designers often make slight adjustments to ensure elements look visually balanced, even if they aren’t mathematically perfect. He noted that “Typography is an illusion,” demonstrating this idea through a design tool on the iPad.

A year later, despite Musk’s intentions for X to become an all-in-one app, it hasn’t yet retained many users. However, there seems to be an effort to improve the logo’s alignment. Interestingly, Paterson mentioned that the adjustment made by X was different from his original suggestion; they decided to raise a part of X rather than shifting it to the right.

While this change is minor, it enhances the logo’s overall balance. Though one may argue that X is still far from becoming a recognizable brand, this example illustrates how even small modifications can greatly improve a brand’s identity.

Musk’s brands have faced criticism beyond just the X logo, with the xAI logo also receiving negative feedback and the Tesla logo being compared unfavorably to others.