If you happen to take note of AI firm branding, you will discover a sample:
- Round form (typically with a gradient)
- Central opening or focus
- Radiating components from the middle
- Comfortable, natural curves
Sound acquainted? It ought to, as a result of it is also an apt description of… effectively, you recognize.
A butthole.
The round AI brand epidemic
If you happen to ever thought that AI firm logos seem like buttholes, you are not alone.
FastCompany seen this pattern in 2023 and printed an article about it, however (I might solely presume) their editors and legal professionals did not allow them to title the article the best way the needed it to title, so it obtained printed with a extra secure for work title: The AI increase is creating a brand new brand pattern: the swirling hexagon. Additionally they had been cautious to not point out something anatomical.
I haven’t got editors or legal professionals, so let’s take a better have a look at some examples:
OpenAI’s brand evolution
OpenAI’s unique brand was a easy, text-based mark. Then got here the redesign: an ideal circle with a refined gradient and central void.
OpenAI’s official clarification is a masterclass in company euphemism:
“The Blossom brand is greater than only a visible image; it represents the core philosophy that guides our method to design and innovation. At its coronary heart, the emblem captures the dynamic intersection between humanity and know-how—two forces that form our world and encourage our work. The design embodies the fluidity and heat of human-centered considering by way of using circles, whereas proper angles introduce the precision and construction that know-how calls for.”
Certain, Sam.
Translation: “We made a round form with some angles as a result of it seemed good, then wrote flowery language to justify why our butthole-adjacent design is definitely profound.”
The fluidity and heat of human-centered considering by way of using circles is maybe probably the most elegant manner anybody has ever described making a brand that resembles an anus.
The Massive AI firms
Wanting on the logos of the Massive AI firms, you’ll be able to see that they virtually all of them have a round or snowflake-like form and a central opening.
Solely DeepSeek and Midjourney do not observe the pattern. Apparently, each are sea-related.
Smoking gun: Anthropic’s Claude
Up till this level, the logos have been refined. You may say that the logos are merely round and there is not way more to it.
However Anthropic’s Claude takes it to the subsequent stage.
This is a side-by-side comparability with a drawing from Kurt Vonnegut’s ebook “Breakfast of Champions”. I added Claude’s brand beneath for straightforward comparability.
Each the drawing and the outline within the ebook are unambiguous. This isn’t simply “a round form with a gradient” anymore, is it?
It isn’t simply AI firms
Even conventional firms aren’t immune. Listed below are just a few notable or humorous examples. However the proportion of AI firm logos that seem like buttholes continues to be significanly increased than than some other trade.
I particularly just like the Electrolux one. It is easy, memorable, and when you see a butt and bikini, you’ll be able to’t unsee it.
Why does this maintain occurring?
There are a number of components at play:
Round design psychology
Circles symbolize wholeness, completion, and infinity—ideas that align with AI’s promise. They’re additionally pleasant and non-threatening, qualities firms desperately wish to venture when promoting probably job-replacing know-how.
Unintentional biomimicry
The human mind finds acquainted patterns in random shapes (pareidolia), like a face on Mars, taken by the Viking 1 orbiter and launched by NASA in 1976.
However generally, designers inadvertently recreate organic varieties with out realizing the… anatomical implications.
The copycat impact
As soon as just a few main gamers adopted the round sphincter aesthetic, everybody adopted swimsuit. Now we now have an trade the place standing out means wanting precisely like everybody else’s butthole.
Principally, the identical purpose why so many manufacturers change their logos and seem like everybody else.
Design by committee
One other issue is how these logos are created. Necessary company choices contain many stakeholders. The result’s typically the most secure, most inoffensive choice, the common of everybody’s opinions. In design conferences at AI firms, conversations in all probability sound like:
- Can we make it extra futuristic?
- It must really feel superior however approachable.
- Let’s add a refined gradient to convey intelligence.
No single particular person suggests making a brand that resembles an anus, however when everybody’s suggestions will get integrated, that is what typically emerges. Threat aversion in company environments naturally pushes designs towards acquainted, “secure” territory, which apparently means anatomical openings.
What this says about tech branding
This phenomenon reveals one thing deeper in regards to the tech trade: the concern of standing out an excessive amount of. Regardless of claims of innovation and disruption, there’s large strain to look legit by conforming to established visible language.
When OpenAI’s sphincter-like brand grew to become profitable, it created a template that stated, “That is what critical AI appears to be like like.” Now, any new AI firm that does not resemble a colourful anatomical opening dangers being seen as unserious or unprofessional.
Tech design tendencies by way of historical past
This is not the primary time tech design has gone by way of a conformity part. Think about these earlier waves:
- Nineteen Nineties-2000s: 3D and Shiny – Keep in mind when each brand wanted a drop shadow and a glassy shine? Apple’s aqua interface set the usual.
- 2010-2013: Skeuomorphism – Digital designs mimicking bodily objects, with stitched leather-based textures and reasonable dials.
- 2013-2018: Flat Design – Response to skeuomorphism introduced minimal, clear interfaces with brilliant colours and no shadows.
- 2018-2022: Neomorphism – Comfortable shadows and semi-flat design creating refined, “touchable” interfaces.
- 2022-Current: The Butthole Period – Round gradients with central focal factors dominating AI branding.
Every period began with improvements that had been shortly copied till the trade reached saturation level and moved on to the subsequent pattern.
Logos change into more and more interchangeable (one of many luggage is actual, however all of them look the identical)
Historic brand disasters: You are not alone
AI firms can take some consolation in realizing they don’t seem to be the primary to face unintended anatomical comparisons. Brand historical past is stuffed with disasters however to maintain this according to the theme of the article, here is a few them.
- Zune brand, when flipped, says one thing completely different. Perhaps that is one of many the explanation why iPod gained?
- Brazilian Institute of Oriental Research is a stylized pagoda sillhouetted in opposition to the setting solar. Or so the designers needed it to look. The ultimate consequence was way more… anatomical. They since modified it to one thing much less suggestive.
Perhaps firms ought to have a panel of “center schoolers” on their payroll to evaluation logos earlier than launch. They’re going to discover each doable inappropriate interpretation with ruthless effectivity.
Breaking free from the butthole
For firms courageous sufficient to distinguish, listed here are some options:
- Embrace sharp angles – geometric shapes with outlined edges create a definite visible identification
- Use detrimental house creatively – assume FedEx arrow, not organic openings
- Keep away from radial symmetry – not all the things must be completely round
- Skip the gradient – flat design nonetheless works
- Take a look at with numerous audiences – if 5 completely different folks independently say “that appears like a butthole,” it in all probability does (present it to youngsters if you wish to uncover even probably the most refined anatomical implications)
Conclusion
Does this imply AI firms ought to change their branding? Not essentially. The familiarity clearly works in constructing belief. However maybe the subsequent wave of AI innovation may very well be accompanied by some visible innovation too.
For firms trying to break the mould, think about these approaches that profitable tech manufacturers have used:
- Embrace significant abstraction – Slack’s hashtag-inspired brand communicates collaboration with out round clichés
- Leverage letterforms – Netflix’s easy “N” has change into immediately recognizable with out anatomical confusion
- Inform a narrative – Stripe’s distinctive parallel traces replicate cost flows transferring seamlessly
- Use distinctive coloration mixtures – Twitch’s purple branding stands out in a sea of blue tech logos
The problem for the subsequent era of AI firms is not simply technological – it is discovering visible language that communicates innovation with out resorting to the identical drained sphincter-inspired patterns.
PS. This put up is supposed to be humorous, however let’s not fake there is not a critical level right here about the miserable sameness in trendy design. No precise anuses had been consulted throughout this analysis, although a number of designers had been clearly fascinated about them.
