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    [OC] Black logos are taking over Silicon Valley
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    [OC] Black logos are taking over Silicon Valley


    Black is the new blue.

    I analyzed 20 years of Y Combinator startup logos. 2,000+ companies, 2007 to 2026.

    Almost half of recent YC startups now use black logos. Black has replaced blue as the dominant brand color.

    👉 Further analysis in this thread:
    https://x.com/ollysmyth_/status/2032194186439770331?s=20

    Methodology: I pulled the full list of YC companies using the public search index, then fetched each company's logo thumbnail. A pixel-level HSV color classifier analysed each image, categorizing dominant hues into nine buckets: Black, Blue, Red, Green, Teal/Cyan, Orange, Yellow, Purple, and Pink/Magenta. ~2,000 logos were classified across the 2007–2026 batches.

    Posted by ojsizzle

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    10 Comments

    1. ojsizzle on

      **Source:** YC company data sourced from the public Y Combinator company index: [https://www.ycombinator.com/companies](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies) Logo thumbnails fetched directly from company profile images.

      **Tool:** Python (matplotlib). Color classification via pixel-level HSV analysis across 2,000+ logo thumbnails.

    6. Picorims on

      It could be because it easier to put everywhere: light background, black background, print, etc with a very good contrast. And cheaper to not also ask for a colored logo (or even a color for the brand).

      But yeah it feels very cold

    7. ojsizzle on

      The inflection point: 2022. The year ChatGPT launched.

      OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity all lean into dark, minimal aesthetics.

      Black signals AI, modernism, mystery, the future.