Yelp, the customer review website, has introduced a refreshed logo and a reimagined suite of app icons. The latest updates are part of a continued roll out of a new modernized platform. The original logo was inspired by the star symbol that appears above characters’ heads in a moment of discovery, and the symbol has since evolved into Yelp’s iconic burst-shape logo.
The refreshed logo respects that legacy by refining it with smoother, more geometric, and proportionate visuals. The Yelp word mark has been redrawn from scratch, retaining the rounded quality of the original typeface but with more open counters and wider curves. The design team felt that refining the wordmark helps unify Yelp’s existing brand elements and creates a single visual language across the logo and app icons.
The app icons presented an opportunity to create a consistent visual language around Yelp’s family of apps, while still ensuring audiences would recognize Yelp apart from the other apps. The team applied a red background to Yelp as their primary app icon and utilized white backgrounds for the other apps to help establish a hierarchy that draws attention to the primary app.
Prior to this project, each app icon was using a different visual style. The Yelp for Business app used an illustrative approach whereas Yelp Waitlist and Yelp Reservations used abstract symbols.
Originally, 16 different colors were used across the four app icons, but now all four apps use the same two styles in consistent composition. While flat UI is the industry standard, the Yelp design team saw an opportunity to create a visually distinct and unique 3D style, where the texture of the app icons feel tactile and fresh.
