Welcome.
Many of you have been in this community for a long time, but whether you’ve just joined or you’ve been a member since day one, this is your first impression of the new DeviantArt.
Change is not something that we take lightly, because it affects our collective identity. It was important for us to define who we are and what we’re made of at our core before we changed anything. We all have our own understanding of what that means, but the process of getting that core story down on paper took almost a year.
The result is “Bleed and Breed Art.” This is our center of gravity and our reason for getting out of bed in the morning.
It is the guide and the justification for everything, including our business partnerships, the development of the new app and the design of our new identity. Anything and everything we create is in service of our innate calling to Bleed and Breed Art.
This is who we are at our essence. When I say “we,” I mean you, too. We are not a company or a brand or a website—we are a community united in our love and support of art and artists. Our new look is not designed to compete or keep up with other companies, brands or websites—it’s designed to tell our story and showcase our art and artists in the best possible way. We are DeviantArt.
We are where art starts, but that is only the beginning. We are a community for the creative in everyone to develop and heighten their personal sense of taste, but that’s not where it ends. We are the movement for the liberation of creative expression.
We believe that art is for everyone, and we’re creating the cultural context for how it is created, discovered and shared.
Artists love us because we are an inclusive and supportive community. We help them find their identity through self-expression. We provide the tools, resources and exposure to enable them to become better, more successful artists. We inspire people to create art by feeding their creativity.
We provide endless entertainment and inspiration. This is where you see it first. This is where whatever you’re into, no matter how niche, is embraced and expressed by a dedicated community of likeminded creatives. This is where the global undercurrent of creativity feeds the future of popular culture.
There’s no other place like DeviantArt. We are an unapologetically addictive experience. Our world is a prolific orgy of originality where creatives enjoy freedom of artistic expression. We are the deviation of creativity that shatters the confines of expectation. We can’t help it—it runs through our veins and compels us to nurture it in others. This is DeviantArt.
We are an unapologetically rebellious community of unconventional creatives. Never restricted by convention, we create the genres and sub genres that push the edge of the art world’s boundaries. We have a fearless confidence that comes with being the established alternative for millions of badass deviant artists. You will know us when you see us, because we’re like nothing you’ve ever seen.
We’re an addictive force of creativity. Always fun, entertaining and effortlessly captivating, we’re a mesmerizing visual experience. If being the source of the digital art world’s most prolific creativity is cool, we’re destined to be iconic. There’s a reason why our vast community keeps growing: once you get a taste, you’re hooked for life.
We are open to the creative in everyone. Our community is a family of visual communicators born with an innate appreciation for art. It is in the blood running through our collective veins. We are more than a collaborative creative environment, we are a safe, trustworthy place for the intimate act of bonding over art from the heart.
We develop ingenious ways for the world to create and discover art. Our energy and knowledge comes from years of facilitating the vibrant creativity of our community. We put every ounce of our intellectual curiosity into developing an evolving environment that stimulates and inspires our artists to push the limits of their talents.
Our new logo is symbolic of everything we believe. It is an audacious and inspired evolution of our original dA mark—literally turning the art world upside down. We love it because, like DA, people might not get it right away and, like all great art, it challenges perceptions and perspectives. Most importantly, it elevates DeviantArt and our artists.
WE TURN THE ART WORLD UPSIDE DOWN AND BACKWARDS.
You, the artist and the art enthusiast, are what truly define us, so you should have as much ownership over our identity as we do. Here you’ll find all of the elements of our new visual identity with high-level direction on how they should be used.
The construction of our brand mark is a combination of our symbol and a completely customized wordmark, all of which use the angle of 62 degrees to cut the letter forms.
These are the five preferred lockups of our logo and wordmark.
There is no question that DeviantArt is green. Like art, it is in our blood. We considered every shade of green imaginable before deciding unanimously on the bold, vibrant “DeviantArt Green” you see now. Most importantly, we’ve defined a system for using it selectively rather than pervasively.
As well as DeviantArt Green, we’ve established a neutral color palette of greys chosen specifically for their qualities to showcase art. Now, DA is represented in DeviantArt Green and our art can represent itself in the best light.
Our typeface is called Calibre (not Calibri) by a type foundry called Klim. We use caps whenever possible and give it a custom treatment by cutting off the first and last letters of words and/or sentences with the diagonal angle of our logo.
Another great thing about our symbol is that it can tessellate to form a beautiful pattern. It is particularly powerful because, when the symbol tessellates, it allows the two “A”s to become more clear.
Our identity is as much yours as it is ours, so we wanted you to have all of the pieces to bring it to life in your own ways. Download, share and create as you see fit.
If you haven’t met Fella, he’s our mascot, and he’s not going anywhere. Fella’s look has changed over the years, and those changes have always been made by the community. That’s not going to change. He is yours and yours alone. Here he is with the new logo.
The new mobile app was a long time coming, and it is truly amazing. Art has never looked better on a mobile device. This is not a mobile version of our website—it’s a revolutionary new way to access the entire community, submit and browse art and experience DeviantArt on the go from your mobile device.
Taking a deep dive into introspection required the guidance and perspective of a trusted partner. We chose to work with Moving Brands, who we consider to be the greatest independent creative company in the world. Check out their work for yourself at MovingBrands.com.
We spent months together, at one point even locking ourselves in repurposed warehouse space in downtown LA for an intensive 12 hour workshop. Every voice was heard. Everything was put on the table. We were exposed—stripped back to our essence and forced to reconcile our past with our future.
Tough questions were asked and answered. What does it mean to be a deviant? What is the nature of art and of artists? What are the universal truths about DA? Who are we, really?
Design sensibilities were explored exhaustively. Colors, textures, patterns and typefaces were examined and discussed extensively.
Moving Brands are pros, and their guidance was invaluable in filtering through the myriad of insights, impressions and opinions to find the common threads. It’s how we got to “Bleed and Breed Art,” which informed everything else from logo and color choices to the layout of the website and the functionality of our amazing new app.
Bleed and Breed Art is more than a tagline. We’re using it to guide all of our decisions. In other words, before we add a feature or design an app or make a business partnership, the question, “will this Bleed and Breed Art?” is the first thing we ask of ourselves. If the answer is anything but an emphatic “yes,” we go back to the drawing board.
In many ways, “Bleed and Breed Art” is the most important piece that came out of this journey. It has always been true and will always be true.
There will be more changes and new additions in the future as we continue to grow. Some may have obvious benefits, while the reasoning behind others may not be so immediately apparent. Whatever the case may be, know that the motivation behind everything we do will always be to Bleed and Breed Art—for our 32 million registered members, for the new artists and art lovers of the future, and for the world.
