You’ve seen it a thousand times. That blue circle with the slanted "hp" letters sitting on the corner of your laptop or the front of a printer. It feels like it’s been there forever, right? Well, sort of. If you actually look closely at the Hewlett Packard Inc logo, you’re seeing the result of one of the messiest, most expensive corporate breakups in tech history.
Honestly, most people don't realize that the logo they see on a modern laptop isn't just a design choice—it's a legal boundary. Back in 2015, the original Hewlett-Packard Company split in half. One side became Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), focusing on servers and boring business stuff. The other became HP Inc., the company that makes the consumer gear we actually touch.
And that’s where the logo story gets weirdly dramatic.
The Slant That Almost Didn't Happen
If you own a high-end Spectre or Envy laptop, you probably don’t have the round blue logo. Instead, you have four minimalist, vertical slashes that kinda look like the letters "hp" if you squint.
This is the "Premium" logo.
Here’s the kicker: HP actually rejected this design years before they used it. In 2011, a design agency called Moving Brands spent a literal fortune creating a new, ultra-futuristic identity for HP. They based everything on a 13-degree angle, which they claimed was the exact slant used in the original 1939 logo. They wanted to replace the circle with these four lines.
HP’s leadership looked at it and basically said, "No thanks."
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It sat in a drawer for five years. It wasn't until 2016, after the company split, that HP Inc. decided they needed to look "cool" again to compete with Apple. They dug out the rejected "slash" logo and slapped it on their most expensive gear. It’s a classic case of being too far ahead of your time. Today, it's considered a masterclass in minimalism, but back then, it was just too weird for the corporate suits.
Why the Blue Circle Still Matters
Even with the fancy slashes on the high-end stuff, the blue circle remains the "official" Hewlett Packard Inc logo for the masses. It’s comforting. It feels reliable.
But it’s changed way more than you think.
- 1939 – 1954: The original was just black and white. No blue. The tails of the "h" and "p" actually poked out of the circle. It looked like something you’d see on a piece of heavy machinery in a factory.
- The Blue Era (1970s): Blue didn't show up until much later. Why blue? In the tech world, blue is the "safety" color. It signals "we won't crash" and "your data is safe."
- The 2008 Inversion: This was a big one. They flipped the colors, making the letters white and the circle blue. They also tucked the "tails" of the letters inside the circle so they wouldn't poke out anymore.
- Electric Blue (2025 Refinement): More recently, the company shifted to a shade they call "Electric Blue." It’s brighter, more saturated, and designed specifically to pop on smartphone screens.
The typography has also been quietly overhauled. They moved away from the old, cramped fonts to something called "Forma DJR Office." If you aren't a font nerd, it just looks "cleaner," but for the company, it was about making sure the logo stayed legible even when it was shrunk down to a tiny icon on a website footer.
The Great Logo Divorce
When the company split, there was a huge fight over who got to keep the "legacy."
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HP Inc. (the PC and printer side) won the rights to the classic round logo. They wanted to keep the connection to the founders, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, because that brand recognition is worth billions in the consumer world.
Meanwhile, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) had to start from scratch. They ended up with a green rectangle. Seriously. Just a green rectangle. Their CEO at the time, Meg Whitman, tried to sell it as a "window to the future," but most designers just called it boring.
So, whenever you see that blue circle, you're looking at the "survivor" of the split. It represents the half of the company that decided to stay "human" rather than just "enterprise."
It’s All About the 13 Degrees
Whether it’s the classic circle or the new slashes, the DNA of the Hewlett Packard Inc logo is that 13-degree tilt.
Why 13? There’s no magical scientific reason. It’s just how Bill and Dave liked it back in the garage in 1939. Designers have tried to change the angle over the decades, but it always feels "off." That specific slant has become a visual shorthand for "Silicon Valley Heritage."
Modern HP branding uses these slants everywhere—in the backgrounds of ads, in the shape of their icons, and even in the vents on the bottom of their laptops. It’s a subtle way of reinforcing the logo without actually showing the logo.
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Actionable Tips for Identifying Genuine HP Branding
If you're looking at HP gear and trying to figure out if it's the real deal or a knockoff, or just trying to understand their confusing product tiers, keep these things in mind:
- Check the "Tails": On the standard Hewlett Packard Inc logo, the "h" and "p" do not break the circle. If the lines extend outside the blue ring, you’re either looking at a vintage pre-2008 product or a poorly made counterfeit.
- The "Premium" Rule: Only the top-tier Spectre, Envy, and certain Dragonfly models use the four-slash logo. If you see the four slashes on a cheap, plastic Pavilion laptop, it might be a refurb with a replaced shell or a weird regional variant.
- The Color Test: The official "Electric Blue" used since 2025 is very specific (Pantone PMS 2925 C is the closest classic match). It should never look navy or purple-ish.
- Logo Placement: HP is obsessive about alignment. The logo on the lid of a laptop is always perfectly centered. On printers, it’s usually top-left or centered on the output tray.
Next time you open your laptop, take a second to look at that little emblem. It’s not just a symbol; it’s a survivor of a corporate civil war, a rejected futuristic design, and a 13-degree tribute to two guys in a Palo Alto garage.