From vision to reality. Flodesk’s brand refresh journey
At Flodesk, we’ve been guided by the belief that building a small business should be simple and accessible for everyone. This has been the main vision since its inception in 2019 and it continues to guide our path as we evolve.
Martha Bitar, Rebecca Shostak, and Trong Dong launched a small yet passionate, team with a beta product, no funding, and no big PR splash. Yet the vision was design-driven, aspiring to offer the best design-forward software experience in the world.
This idea shaped the cornerstone of Flodesk’s identity. However, as we grew, we realized that Flodesk represented more than just great design and the best email software. It wasn’t just about us. Our brand was about our members — the champions, supporters, and advocates who passionately promoted Flodesk.
A shift in perspective
Our decision to embark on a rebranding journey was driven by the desire to become closer to who we already are.
While our visuals were bold and exciting, they didn’t fully resonate with the soul of our brand. We were missing the essence of our members — their beautiful, organic, human energy. We wanted a brand to represent all of the things that make Flodesk so special and to reflect all aspects of the identity with our community of members at its core.
At the same time, our existing brand framework wasn’t excelling in facilitating a good collaboration between the different designers inside the team. There was no clear definition of an on-brand approach, or the methods needed to increase the output of our brand communications. As a result, this brought inconsistencies, slowed down the process, and created complexities in the team that prevented our audience from effectively navigating the different spectrums of content offered by the brand.
The need for a structured brand system became increasingly apparent. Our objective went beyond mere alignment and clarity — we were looking for a strategic blueprint for our brand’s journey. This plan would serve as a guide, allowing us to streamline our efforts and effectively scale up our marketing and brand communications.
Recognizing the importance of resource allocation, we endeavoured to channel our efforts in a direction that would ensure a cohesive and focused vision as we drove our brand forward. We decided to partner with DIA Studio to help us explore our core identity and express it through a new visual system.
What makes DIA stand out as a top modern branding firm is how they apply rich historical design foundations into a dynamic and screen-based world — exactly what Flodesk needed.
Instead of the usual brand guidelines PDFs of colors, type sizes and logos, DIA delivers a full suite of custom toolkits and templates utilizing After Effects and Figma, and complex typographic guidelines that our internal design team can easily activate — and really work to maintain consistency in a modern digital brand.
Our collaboration spanned over a year, taking us to Switzerland to also work with one of the world’s most well-regarded font foundries, Optimo.
A Unique Look and Feel
The main goal of this brand transformation was to establish a rigorous visual system that conveyed a unique look and feel to Flodesk’s brand. Our ambition was to ensure that a Flodesk design could be instantly recognized anywhere, by anyone.
The reimagined brand became a reflection of our journey inspired by a myriad of influences — radical minimalism, the aesthetics of the small business community, and above all, the emotions and stories of our members.
We revisited the philosophy of one of our early inspirations — the renowned 20th-century architect Richard Neutra.
As one of the pioneers of California Modernism, Neutra is known for functional and aesthetically pleasing architecture that seamlessly integrates with its surroundings. His design approach also considered the psychological and emotional impact of his buildings, believing that good design could improve well-being and health.
Similarly, our new brand is deeply rooted in the two fundamental components of Flodesk’s heart: the rigorous, systematic, and obsessive design, and the beautiful, organic, human energy of our members. A brand designed to inspire, uplift, and support the prosperity of our community.
The New Flodesk
At Flodesk we believe that a good product experience goes hand in hand with a meaningful brand experience, and this idea was a driving force during our rebranding process.
As we considered how to seamlessly incorporate the new brand into the product, we were guided by one key question: does our brand enhance the overall product experience?
We realized that our brand should never be distracting in a product context. Instead, it should help guide, inform, and function, while maintaining an elegant stamp.
In the new Flodesk, two core components defined our brand:
1. The product’s ease of use and functionality
2. Its strong community of users
Unifying Community and Function with a custom typeface
These two critical components were beautifully embodied in a unique typeface made exclusively for us and meticulously designed by Francois Rappo and his team at Optimo.
Much like in our journey of growth, our exploration into custom typography was fueled by the need for authenticity.
A custom font is more than mere letters; it’s a silent ambassador that speaks about your brand. It’s a powerful tool that differentiates, creates consistency, and resonates on a subconscious level with your audience.
Flodesk Sans was designed as our main typeface and it straddles a delicate line between friendliness and functionality.
Symbolizing the very essence of our product’s prowess, the new typeface strikes a balance between rational design and inviting warmth. It intentionally taps into the antique feel of late 19th-century grotesks, combined with geometric forms closely related to Richard Neutra’s architectural work.
The result is something that functions seamlessly in all settings, from tiny product UI to large-scale branded collateral, without losing its aesthetic quality.
In harmonious contrast, Flodesk JJannon is a serif typeface that emerges as a reflection of our vibrant community.
Its inviting curves and conversational letterforms extend an embrace, resonating with the genuine connections that thrive within our members. This typeface stands as a beautiful counterpoint to Flodesk Sans, weaving a narrative that captures the heart of our community.
Flodesk JJannon is an altered version of JJannon that Francois Rappo designed by adjusting its x-height to fit perfectly with Flodesk Sans in all typesetting situations. Coincidentally, the x-height alteration gives the typeface a contemporary twist and a louder visual impression than the original.
As Flodesk Sans and Flodesk JJannon converge, they create an engaging contrast that complements each other, forming the very foundation of our new dynamic logo. This harmonious blend of typefaces captures the essence of our brand’s evolution.
This union isn’t confined to design guidelines alone. It comes alive as the cornerstone of our revitalized logo, artfully weaving together our two central concepts— Flodesk Sans reflecting our company’s design rigour, and Flodesk Serif reflecting the community’s voice. The result is something that feels contemporary while evoking its historical roots.
This iconic logotype presents Flodesk’s fresh brand positioning: a channel for connecting and empowering a community of users through flawlessly designed products.
Creating a unified visual system
With typography as a starting point, we set out to develop a coherent visual system that led to the creation of a shape library, inspired by the geometric shapes ‘F,’ ‘O,’ and ‘D,’ which spell out the word ‘Flodesk.’
Inspired by this shape library, DIA explored motion behaviours using half circles, full circles, and squares, resulting in a flowing movement that refers to Flodesk’s smooth user experience.
The new system facilitated Flodesk designers to play around and create unlimited notifications to our graphic communications while keeping a consistent visual expression.
In this digital age, motion is more than just an aesthetic choice — it’s a language. People can recognize and remember movement as they would a familiar face. Brands that overlook this aspect miss a valuable opportunity to connect with their audience.
By incorporating motion into our brand identity, we added another layer of recognition. Our collaboration with DIA wasn’t only confined to static design elements. They brought a dynamic dimension to our visual presence, infusing it with an emotional depth that was previously absent. This new motion system allowed us to capture attention in a saturated digital landscape, giving our brand a distinctive and memorable signature.
Art Direction — Fresh, yet subtle
When deciding on the brand’s art direction, we opted for a fresh but muted colour palette, inspired by jewellery tones, that would enhance our product templates and deliver a pleasant user experience.
Departing from our previous primary colour, black, we have now chosen brown to infuse our identity with a special warmth. The most common combination in our new identity is brown text on off-white backgrounds, providing an airy feel that allows product imagery, user images, and most importantly, our members, to take centre stage and shine.
Let’s celebrate
The new brand refresh is a return to our roots, informed by the creative energy of the diverse Flodesk community.
With a new custom typeface, adaptable motion system, and refined visual language, we’ve created a brand that empowers small business owners through intuitive design and marketing.
Flodesk was created to provide our members with an easy-to-use platform to elevate their brands through stunning emails, forms, and checkout pages. But Flodesk is more than just nice aesthetics — it’s also about the continuous process of crafting and nurturing a relationship with your subscribers. From creating a form and building your audience to developing a workflow, sending a newsletter, or selling a product—we want to be your trusted guide throughout the creative journey. Our intention is that, when you use Flodesk, you feel a sense of calm focus that puts you into the creative flow.
that puts you into the creative flow.
This new brand is not just a visual makeover. It’s a celebration of our evolution and a tribute to our vibrant community. It marks a new chapter in our narrative and represents our renewed commitment to our members.
Check out flodesk.com/brand to see the full brand presentation 🎉
About me
I’m Claudia Aran, a designer from Barcelona with a big passion for visual arts. I’m currently working as a Design Director at Flodesk nurturing the design aesthetic and brand. Before joining Flodesk in 2021, I spent 4 years as a Brand Design Lead at Typeform.
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Thanks for reading :)
