Oxley’s Larry had its wings clipped but Twitter bird continues to soar

Some say the logo is the ultimate expression of freedom. Melanie Rehak on how a $30bn firm got it for peanuts.

IN a 2012 announcement about the latest redesign of the Twitter logo, the social networking company’s former creative director, Doug Bowman, said, “Twitter is the bird, the bird is Twitter”.

Its slightly goofier predecessor had a tufted head and was sometimes accompanied by the company name; Bowman’s new bird was a sleeker update. Resembling a mountain bluebird with a dash of hummingbird thrown in, the Twitter bird has a beak and body that point toward the sky in what Bowman called “the ultimate representation of freedom, hope and limitless possibility”. Unlike previous iterations since the company’s 2006 launch, all of which were named ‘Larry the Bird’ after the Boston Celtics basketball legend, the current logo is known simply as the Twitter Bird.