What Is the Bluesky Logo?
The Bluesky logo is a blue butterfly with its wings spread, drawn as a simple flat shape with no lettering. Bluesky introduced it in December 2023. Bluesky is the social network that began in 2019 as a research project funded by Twitter, became an independent company, Bluesky Social, in October 2021, and opened to the public in February 2024; it is based in the United States.
The butterfly works as the app icon and as the mark on the website. The butterfly on its own is available as the Bluesky logo SVG.
Bluesky Logo Facts
| Introduced | December 2023 |
| Symbol | A butterfly |
| Logo type | Pictorial mark: a butterfly |
| Earlier mark | A stock photograph of a cloudy sky |
| Owner | Bluesky Social |
What the Bluesky Logo Means
Bluesky's chief executive at the time, Jay Graber, explained the choice in a blog post on 21 December 2023 titled "A New Look for Bluesky: The Social Butterfly". A butterfly can fly, which fits a name about the sky, but Graber wrote that the main reason was that it "is a symbol of change and transformation". She linked that to the company's aim of turning social media into something new, and to the way Bluesky was opening up step by step, like a butterfly leaving its chrysalis.
The idea came from users first. Early members had started adding the butterfly emoji to their names and handles to show they were on Bluesky, and the habit spread. The company adopted the symbol its own users had already picked.
Bluesky Logo History
In December 2019 Jack Dorsey, then Twitter's chief executive, announced that Twitter would fund a small independent team of up to five architects, engineers and designers to build an open and decentralised standard for social media. He called the project Bluesky.
Jay Graber was hired to lead it in August 2021, and in October 2021 Bluesky was incorporated as its own company, Bluesky Social. In February 2022 it became a public benefit corporation.
For its first years Bluesky had no drawn logo. The app and the website used a stock image of a cloudy blue sky as their icon. That was the picture on screens when the invitation-only iOS beta opened on 17 February 2023.
The butterfly replaced the sky photo in December 2023. Two months later, on 6 February 2024, Bluesky dropped its invitation codes and opened registration to everyone.
Bluesky and the Bird It Grew Out Of
Bluesky started inside Twitter, a company known for its blue bird. In July 2023 Twitter retired the bird for a letter and became X, and five months later Bluesky picked another winged creature, in blue. Compare the X logo with the butterfly, or see how another community platform built its mark around a character in the Reddit logo.
For more brands like Bluesky, browse our social media logos.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the Bluesky logo a butterfly?
Bluesky says the butterfly is a symbol of change and transformation, and its users had already been putting the butterfly emoji in their handles.
When did Bluesky get its butterfly logo?
In December 2023, announced in a blog post by Jay Graber on 21 December.
What was the Bluesky logo before the butterfly?
A stock image of a cloudy sky, used as the icon for the app and website.
Was Bluesky part of Twitter?
It began in 2019 as a Twitter-funded research project and became an independent company, Bluesky Social, in October 2021.