eharmony's in-house rebrand fought swipe apps with lowercase type and teal

eharmony differentiates through long-term matches and compatibility testing, but its dark, muted identity 'did not represent love in the best light' and its mobile experience was 'clunky, restrictive and a painful experience'.

The in-house team swapped the uppercase H for lowercase, adopted a teal logotype ('known to represent compassion and stability'), bold Lato with secondary face Faith and Glory, and a heart symbol of teal, purple and pink set in a grid. The website was decluttered for mobile; compatibility scores gained per-topic breakdowns and pre-determined conversation starters were added to messaging.

The new branding and website rolled out in 2017, with the redesigned app following in the coming months; the source reports no usage results.

In September 2017, Design Week reported eharmony's rebrand — completed not by an agency but by its in-house design team, headed by senior manager of creative services Shaily Savla and UX design manager Tony Smith. Founded in 2000 and one of the first online dating sites, eharmony had 33 million members across 17 years and sat alongside Match.com, OkCupid, Tinder and Bumble; its differentiation was helping people find 'the one' through compatibility testing rather than swipe-right flings.

The new logo swaps the uppercase 'H' for a lowercase one, uses a new teal shade for the logotype — 'known to represent compassion and stability', said Savla — set in a bolder web-and-app-friendly Lato, with secondary typeface Faith and Glory for supporting copy. A new heart symbol made up of shades of teal, purple and pink sits in a grid. 'The last colours were dark, muted and did not represent love in the best light,' said Savla. 'We wanted a palette that was colourful, uplifting and evoked unity.'

The redesign also rebuilt the product. The website and app were reworked to 'clear out the clutter' and suit mobile — 'It was clunky, restrictive and a painful experience on mobile,' said Smith. Compatibility scores gained 'breakdowns' by topic for transparency, and messaging added pre-determined conversation-starter questions. The aim: give users 'more information to make better dating choices' and help them 'look beyond the surface' of profiles.

The whole rebrand was in-house — identity and product UX by the company's own team.

Identity and product moved together: palette, type, compatibility breakdowns and messaging options in one release.

The differentiation is explicit: long-term matching versus swipe culture, expressed in both look and features.

A rebrand that changes the product, not just the logo: the new colours said 'love', and the compatibility breakdown made the promise inspectable.

The new branding and website rolled out in 2017, with the redesigned app to follow in the coming months; the source reports no member or engagement results.