Zark

Brand Manual

Strategy, positioning and brand identity for a security platform in Web3.

Zark

Beyond Identity Privacy

SCOPE OF WORK

Brand Strategy and Positioning

Brand Identity

Branding

Illustration

Key Visuals

Brand Manual

Creative Direction

INTRODUCTION

Zark, a pioneering force in digital identity protection, sought to establish a brand identity that resonated with a broad audience while accurately reflecting its core values. This article delves deeper into the design process, culminating in creating Zark’s distinctive brand identity.

Before embarking on the design phase, a comprehensive understanding of Zark’s brand essence was essential. The company’s mission to empower individuals with control over their data privacy was the foundation for the brand’s personality. Zark was envisioned as a confident, witty, and honest companion in the digital space, offering users security and trust.

The carefully selected color palette of blue, green, and magenta was instrumental in conveying Zark’s brand identity. Blue symbolizes trust and reliability, often associated with technology. Green represents growth, security, and harmony, reflecting Zark’s commitment to user well-being. Magenta adds a touch of playfulness and innovation, aligning with the brand’s witty personality.

The decision to use the company name “Zark” as the logo was strategic. It emphasizes the brand’s unique identity and reinforces its simplicity. The logo’s clean and modern typography reflects Zark’s commitment to user-centric design. This also intuitively shows that Zark is for everyone on the internet.

To link the digital world to the physical world, we decided to create a mascot. The Zarks are small, soft, pink creatures with spherical bodies inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s dust sprites. Their mode of transportation is levitating/hovering and their special ability is to activate protection mode by extending their swirly arms and legs to shield private data. They operate as a group to protect your identity and they each have a different personality.

Their playful and carefree demeanor embodies the idea of digital freedom and security. The mascots’ dynamic illustrations symbolize the ever-evolving nature of the digital landscape and Zark’s ability to navigate it easily. With data privacy intact, the mascots continue with their fun-filled activities.

Understanding the target audience was crucial for tailoring the brand messaging effectively. Zark’s primary audience comprises individuals concerned about their online privacy and security. The brand messaging focused on empowering users to take control of their digital lives, emphasizing the benefits of using Zark’s services to protect personal information.

To ensure a cohesive brand experience, guidelines were developed for using the brand elements across all touchpoints. These guidelines covered everything from color usage and typography to imagery and tone of voice. Consistently applying these guidelines helped reinforce Zark’s brand identity and build recognition.

We provided Zark with multiple brandmark variations. This allows for a more adaptive application of the branding assets and complements the company’s playful persona. Along with the variations, we also provided guidelines on branding misuse to maintain the branding’s integrity amidst the dynamic application.

Modern and warm, the new brand identity of Zark communicates exuberating energy that stands out in the corporate visual landscape in the tech industry.

"I enjoyed working with The Backbone team and loved their output! They made a very awesome brand identity and a very cool character for Zark. "

Christian Besler, Co-founder of The Node Group

Special Thanks

Case study write-up by Dale Jo

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Round Table

Brand Manual

Brand identity and naming for a people-focused leadership training in management, marketing, and human resources.

Round Table

Masterclass

SCOPE OF WORK

Brand Naming

Brand Identity

Creative Direction

Motion Graphics

Brand Manual

INTRODUCTION

In the dynamic world of business, continuous development of leadership and management skills is crucial for any organization to evolve with new techniques and practices. Round Table is designed to empower internal employees with comprehensive leadership training and workshops.

Recognizing this, CastleKeep’s leadership team, an investment platform, contacted us to create a new identity for Round Table. This identity, with its unique selling points of reflecting Round Table’s vision of professional development and aligning with CastleKeep’s commitment to investing in its people, is designed to attract a wider group of future leaders and connect with executives. It will also nurture a culture of learning and growth within the organization.

Inspired by the early medieval figures, King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table mythos, we developed a brand identity for Round Table, highlighting the platform’s empowering and people-focused approach. The project encompassed brand naming, brand strategy, brand identity, a complete visual system, and various applications. Creative direction needed to be professional, confident, and straightforward, avoiding any imagery that was cluttered and ambiguous.

The identity system introduces a clean and sophisticated wordmark, symbol, color palette, and imagery style that help define the brand as a trusted organization and relatable at the same time. The symbol is a play of the “R,” which signifies the Round Table. Four R positioned inside a circle (round table) symbolize the four cardinal directions in finance, human resources, marketing, and management training. As a Masterclass, we design the emblem to show elegance, equality, and professional growth.

Along with the visual symbol, we choose brand attributes and messages that embody the mission and character of Round Table. We want to use expressions that are proactive, insightful, straightforward, and dignitary. As a brand that encourages growth and learning, we set brand messaging templates to execute their message on point.

Another critical element in the visual identity is a straightforward and refined typography. We used a combination of a sans-serif and serif font that is a perfect balance between modernity and classical aesthetics. The typography visualizes a professional, and authoritative tone that works across all platforms, ensuring an engaging and immersive experience for the audience. Paired with bright photography and candid moments centered around people, it communicates the personal successes and motivations of the brand.

The geometric graphic and color palettes distinctively and compellingly reflect the brand principles. Midnight Green intuitively signals the brand’s unique approach to guiding producers and leaders in various fields of expertise. Along with the symbol and concise branding, the Round Table’s new identity is a powerful symbol of the transformative power that leadership training can create, inspiring and motivating all who encounter it.

The first combined example of the Round Table branding is the introductory AVP. The use of branding visuals, implementation of message templates and attitude, and graphics and palettes made a medium that reflected the character of the organization. This is one of many future branding implementations that reveal the organization’s value to its audience.

As with other entities, the goal of our branding with Round Table is to let the brand speak for the organization’s vision and goal and use multiple facets of communication and stimuli to create the character the organization wants to emanate.