Mad crazy posting power
Paraphrasing our leader
“We are a group of maniacs who pursue mind-boggling results in everything we do.”
“… predictable, mind-bogging results via four superpowers.”
Superpowers. That’s magic.
Predictable. That’s science.
Post Planner is building a science of data-driven results to power the magic of social media. Post Planner is a laboratory of ideas. Post Planners are mad scientists. Not plodding technicians who follow convention but iconoclasts who map the multiverse, who dream of turning a DeLorean into a time machine. That’s the only way you get to mind-boggling.
A Post Planner brand refresh
We’re shooting for two things with this refresh:
Bigger. Stepping up the brand ladder.
Elevating the company in perceived size and market share. More modern, more elegant, more bold. An implicit sense of confidence beneath the brand. Differentiate and clarify.
More us. Unify identity.
Make the brand consistent across all platforms: website, email, marketing, app. Mobile and desktop. The brand will unify as it becomes consistent, and it will become consistent as the design clarifies and reinforces use. We want our product simple to use. Easy to understand. We want messages clear and results satisfying.
Enhanced social media. Happy users, addictive usage. Take the green and purple pill!
Material design
Consistency begins with a common framework. We are looking at Material Design. It is current and modern, responsive to mobile but doesn’t neglect the desktop experience. Principles of material design that may inform a brand refresh are:
Materiality
The metaphor of a physical world made of paper. Cards. Planes of shape with boundaries, arranged and layered over a base, casting shadow. Everything reacts according to a consistent and simulated physics. Movement shows priority and meaning through context.
Color
Material design suggests a palette of primary colors and dependent secondary tones. Caveat: Post Planner has built an identity with our own custom palette. At first glance, the Material colors are close but do not match the colors of Post Planner. Our goal is to preserve and enhance the existing identity while incorporating principles of Material design.
UI Consistency
To the extent possible, we will customize from Material elements and layout: elements, buttons, forms, components, grids and icons. This will contribute to visual unity and make developers less dependent upon custom designer files.
Delight
Not a trivial thing. Material design relies on animation to communicate meaning, to give context, and also to reward interactivity, to surprise. To delight the user. Interaction is magical.
What this means for Post Planner
There is a balance between science and magic, between elegance and boldness. Mad scientists with good manners. Messaging that is casual but energetic: whiteboard formulas and napkin sketches of an Einstein or Tesla, or ideas tossed off in the heat of innovation. Simply spoken, simply drawn, effortless.
The Post Planner logo
Softening the current logo with a fine-grade sandpaper, rounding the sharp edges, adding a subtle gradient tone, a paper-thin shadow.
The Post Planner palette
We’ve invested wisely in a custom palette. Material design suggests a wheel of primary colors and secondary tones. Through internal discussion, we may finesse the Material scheme toward our existing palette. The purples, one of our main colors, seem hot; the orange a little light. Up for discussion.
The Post Planner style
Mad scientists will always be a little sketchy. Formulas for maximum social engagement! Doodles jotted in the margin of their Quantum Physics primer! Casual and hip, self-mocking. De-emphasize photography, unless portraits of real users, and emphasize hand drawings.
Post Planner typography
The Post Planner app currently uses the Lato font. Google developed Roboto for the Android system. Material design recommends it for the open face, tall x-height, and easy readability on mobile. The two fonts are close enough that we could safely continue with Lato or switch seamlessly to Roboto.
Post Planner icons
Material design icons contain over 4000 symbols, allowing complete consistency for all uses. Post Planner currently uses the similar SS Standard icon set. We can transition to Material icons seamlessly.
Where we’re going
Clean, modern, elegant sites with distinct personality. Who doesn’t like that? Mailchimp, Intercom, Dropbox; these brands have nailed it down. Ample white space to breathe, hand-drawn elements for a human touch, and bold color for accent. Pare the copy down to essentials; fill the screen with one focus at a time.
Minimal: Dropbox, Mailchimp, Intercom, Slack
High contrast: Google Inbox, 3magine, Google Design, Facebook News Feed
