What if the UserTesting and UserZoom logos had a baby?

I have been using UserZoom for about two years now and can only say good things about the platform. They were recently acquired by UserTesting, creating maybe a monopoly in the remote user testing industry? But I thought it would be a run exercise to imagine what their logo would eventually look like, should they ever decide to merge into one.

Background research

I decided to start by looking into the history of each company's logo to get insight into what colors, shapes, etc. they have used. Since I have the least experience with UserTesting, I decided to start there.

UserTesting logo history

The earliest instance of the UserTesting logo I could find was actually not all that different from their current logo. It features a very round typeface, with the word User placed within a speech bubble. They use a subtle light green gradient in the speech bubble, which unfortunately does not pass WCAG color contrast requirements for large text. Perhaps this is why they moved on from this color?

The next iteration has the same typeface as the previous version except they chose to move away from the two color scheme and brighten up the blue color.

The latest version continues to crank the blue's saturation up even more. They also updated the typeface to something less round, which I think helps it appear more professional. Interesting that the shape of the speech bubble really hasn't changed over each iteration.

UserZoom logo history

UserZoom's logos have a bit more variety and character to them than UserTesting's. The logo contains what appears to be an owl, with large eyes, a beak, wings, and two feet perched on the E of the word User. Similar to UserTesting's first version, UserZoom opted to use two colors in their wordmark. The yellowy-orange color also violating WCAG color contrast requirements. At the bottom, they include their slogan, "Zooming in on the user experience."

The logo took a major shift on this version. The owl slimmed down and became a bit more defined, continuing to use the orange color used in the previous workmark. They decided to use a slim, one color font and include "The UX insights company" below. Overall, this is probably my least favorite logo of the bunch because of the thin line weight.

The last version takes an entirely different spin on the owl character, simplifying it to four geometric shapes. The previously yellow-orange color darkens a bit and now meets WCAG AA large color contrast requirements. Similar to UserTesting, they chose a simply, one color sans serif font.

My decisions

Colors

I chose to stay within the existing color options for my take on the logo. Fearful that UserTesting's royal blue looked too similar to the many other companies using a royal blue logo, I decided to use UserZoom's navy blue because it still fit within UserTesting's blue color scheme. I wondered if we could reserve the memorable orange for a distinct logomark.

The name

I decided to drop the UserZoom name since UserTesting is arguably more recognizable in the industry and they are also the one's who bought UserZoom.

The wordmark

I chose to stay consistent with the single color sans serif font both companies use right now. Since this is simply for fun, I only considered free fonts from Google. The finalists included Heebo, Space Grotesk, Archivo, and Public Sans.

When comparing fonts, I prioritized the curvature of the S and E letters however, I initially overlooked the G variations. I had initially started using Public Sans, but I thought that the double-story G wasn't as user friendly as the single-story G of Heebo (I thought Space Grotesk's flat descender had a bit too much personality for the vibe I was going for.

The logomark

I had a lot of fun exploring options for the logomark. I knew I wanted to keep UserTesting's speech bubble since I think it is a good representation of their company's purpose: speaking with and/or listening to the opinions of users. Initially I kept the entire UserZoom owl within it, but I also tested out how it would look without the round body. For awhile I was satisfied with the fully orange version and played around with the height of it next to the wordmark.

Putting it together

When looking at the logomark alone, I thought the shorter version worked better however, when seeing it next to the wordmark, it felt a little squished to me. I decided to move forward to the taller version.

After sitting on my decision for awhile, I started to get the feeling that my proposed logo felt very UserZoom-y even with the UserTesting workmark and speech bubble. I continued to play around with my color choices, which I feel like played the biggest role in my hesitation.

My final version

Ultimately, I decided to back track to including the owl's round body into the speech bubble. I thought it was a nice way to preserve UserTesting's royal blue color without needing to make the entire logo that color. I also felt that removing the orange entirely helped turn down the Userzoom-y feeling I had previously. The navy color I use still comes with UserZoom's palette, but I feel like it doesn't scream UserZoom as much to me as the orange did.

I'll be excited to see which direction UserTesting/UserZoom takes in the future with their logo. Will it be close to what I've envisioned or something entirely different?