Building a new visual language
After nearly eight years of building startup brands from the ground up and helping established organizations stay fit the future, it was time for New Kind to reimagine their look.
Setting context
New Kind is a brand design, messaging, and positioning firm based out of Raleigh, NC. Their approach to branding is agile-inspired and designed around tech companies and their teams. The result is a dynamic, community-centric process that empowers people, builds stronger internal and external relationships, and creates lasting brand equity.
New Kind evolved their digital presence to reflect the same design clarity they bring to their clients every day.
Primary contributions:
+ UX/UI design
+ Visual design system
Role:
Designer
Credits:
Created at: New Kind
Design collaborator: Chris Sim
Developer: Josh Mobley
Creative Director: Matthew Muñoz
As design lead, I played the fundamental roles of prototyper, designer, consensus builder, information architect, decision maker, and UX tester. I set criteria based on our current and future client personas while navigating the layers of our website rebuild with short sprints.
I visually tested our new positioning and vision with our team, a short selection of our clients, and with our strategic web partner NewFangled through wireframing.
I worked with our developer to create a content management system that gave our team the freedom to organize and iterate on what we can offer—through visually interactive case studies and lively team bio pages. We also developed a framework around our forms, to automate a way for future clients to get in touch through progressive profiling with ActOn.
Creating a design system
New Kind believes creating brands should be an adventure, so I created a UI library and photography style that subtly reflected our adventurous spirit. Playing off the idea of “visionary” as our brand voice, I designed a system of elements to match.
Impact
Codifying the brand positioning, visual design system, and website was a lesson in getting things done with consensus. The website design process became an opportunity to imagine what the future could be for New Kind, a symbol of where we’re headed next with room to grow.