JOIN is changing its visual identity: how and why?

The importance of visuals at JOIN

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Everything enters through the eyes. Hence the famous expression "eating with the eyes", which refers to the moment when what we see is so attractive and tempting, that it far exceeds what we can physically consume. First impressions count, and the very first one is visual. 

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At JOIN, we are particularly aware of the importance of this visual aspect, especially when it comes to our brand, which is why design has a very special place for us, because we know that it hints at a lot of one's personality and makes a strong first impression. We want two things: to be understood at a glance and to stand out through visuals.

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If our graphic charter has always been differentiating and a real asset for us, it needed a boost after two years without touching it.

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The challenges of the former DA

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To put it simply: the visual elements of JOIN did not reflect JOIN anymore. It was hard to find your way around, because our AD did not reflect the evolutions and changes we had experienced.

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Our design team felt constrained. The need to express our values and ideas was limited by the visual elements we had.

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At one point, the teams had already explored all the elements of our visual identity, everything had been used (and reused) to excess. Gradually, the designers on the team began to stray from the established identity.

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The problem? Everyone was looking for that breath of fresh air in their own way, without a common thread, which had transformed JOIN's identity from a restrictive and stifling one into a confused, unreadable and disorganized one.

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As JOIN evolved, there were more and more spaces that required AD: the site, white papers, social networks, event presentations, sales presentations...

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To meet this growing demand, our designers were left with a two-year-old identity that was no longer appropriate and limiting.

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At the beginning of 2023, we set a goal to evolve our AD to have an image we would be proud of.

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The new JOIN identity

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Step 1: the workshop

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We followed a series of pre-established steps to rework our visual identity. The first step was to agree on what we wanted to keep and what needed to be changed. Next, we had to share our ideas on how to present JOIN to the world and find a compromise between the different sources of inspiration that each of us considered relevant. Finally, these inspirations had to be translated into visual elements that we could use on a daily basis.

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We decided to dedicate a day to pooling our ideas and inspirations. We chose a work space other than our offices, to get away from distractions, and we put our ideas and concepts together to give birth to the new JOIN AD.

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Before the workshop, we agreed on all the graphic elements to be reworked. We also aligned ourselves with the marketing content we wanted to produce in the coming months in order to imagine visual identities specific to these contents.

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Chiara, Typhaine (our designers) and Jonathan (our CEO) had a whole week to write down why certain elements of our graphic identity were no longer appropriate, but also to propose references that spoke to them in order to find actionable solutions.

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During the workshop we confronted our different points of view and presented our references. We agreed on the visual elements of our AD that we wanted to keep and those that we wanted to change or simply remove.

It's important to note that our references were far from just B2B references. We had of course done a detailed analysis of our competitors, the type of content they produce, how they illustrate these different concepts, what we like and what we don't like.

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But we also went far beyond that. JOIN's identity never wanted to be a mere copy of one competitor or the antithesis of another. We have our own essence, which should be easily understood at a glance, so we also take inspiration from brands we love, both B2B and B2C.

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For example, we took inspiration from Spotify and their marketing campaigns that focus on very visual and colorful elements. Squarespace inspired us with their ability to generate specific ADs for each type of content, a way of doing things that we took for JOIN. Finally, Wethenew's modern video editing was also a huge inspiration for us, especially when it came to creating our own product videos.

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At the end of the workshop, we had: 

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• Determined the new graphic tracks: our choice was a mixture of modernity and retro inspiration of the 70s, to have a clean universe, which aims at the future without forgetting the strong points of the past.
• Choose the values to be transmitted: the AD must always respond to a playful, premium and minimalist sense.
• Defined the pillars of our visual creation: starting from this Modern x Retro spirit, we were able to create sub-DAs with elements specific to each content universe (the blog, the newsletter, etc.)

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Then it was time to move on to the production stage.

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Step 2: The brandbook 

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Now it's time to get down to brass tacks: putting our ideas together and establishing a set of standards and criteria for our brand.

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The brandbook was an important work done by our design team. It could be described as our design bible. This brandbook contains all the elements that make up the visual identity of JOIN, such as

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• The different graphic and visual elements we can play with to create all our content 
• A series of guidelines on how to treat our logo in different contexts: how much room to give it, how to combine it with other logos, in what colors it can be presented, etc.
• A color palette with clear indications on when, where and why to use each color
• Our fonts, when to use each one and how
• Guidance on how to use videos and web stories in our own content: where we can insert them, how they should be edited and processed, optimal size, etc.

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The new brandbook set the rules in terms of design for all our content. Our ambition was clear: to create a sub-DA for each content. In this way, each JOIN content is individually thought out, but always keeping the agreement with a coherent whole. 

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While this required more work, we were convinced that this was the right approach to take in order to bring the most value to our visitors and clients. Following this logic, we gave the site a facelift, focusing on graphic elements that best express JOIN's personality and relying heavily on our new graphic direction. We didn't want anything generic or déjà vu.

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Next, we created a sub-DA for our newsletter, taking the time to create layouts for each block of content to be included, as well as a distinctive and recognizable header and logo. Then it was the turn of the blog, which we redesigned from scratch, also creating a unique logo and individually created headers for each article. Finally, we defined the style of our customer testimonials. We named this category of content "Success Stories", to emphasize the successes of our clients. We created a logo to accompany all of our testimonials and established a set of guidelines for creating customer videos.

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When we presented all this work to the JOINers team, the scope of the project generated a strong reaction and the whole team felt the importance and quality of this work. 

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Step 3: Copywriting

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Last (but not least) was copywriting. While some may think that text and image have little to do with each other, the reality is thatthey go hand in hand. Visually, we had succeeded in bringing our world to life, but we still ran the risk that our immature copywriting would break the effect.

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The final phase of JOIN's rebranding was to define our tone of voice. The key question we had to answer was: If JOIN were a person, how would it speak? Would she be enthusiastic or philosophical? Confident or distant?

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Again, we set up a specific process to arrive at the answer. We analyzed the different archetypes that govern the tone of voice of brands, categorized our competition into one or the other, and analyzed which archetype our model brands were, the ones we aspire to be like.

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I'll let you in on the secret: it turns out that the JOIN archetype is rebellious and creative. The JOIN team agreed with this conclusion and everyone felt that these two archetypes were the ones that best expressed the particular energy of JOIN.

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The tone of voice was the icing on the cake of our visual identity, and thanks to it, you can now read this article as it is written. (We hope you found that little touch of creativity and non-conformism in it).

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Finally, we decided that content with so much personality deserved its own names. With the help of Gabriel Etienne, a copywriter and naming expert, we defined the names of our core content pieces, and thus were born:

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• Story Tellers: our monthly newsletter
• Vertical Thinkers: our dear blog
• Success Story: our customer testimonials
• Story Time: our inspiration page with the best stories

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This project has been one of the most challenging that we have undertaken as a team. First, because of the enormous workload, but mostly because it forced us to get to the bottom of what JOIN means and represents to each of us. It meant finding a way to let the brand live and at the same time mark the boundaries and create a framework for its expression. Not the easiest thing to do, but well worth the effort.

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We have also accumulated lessons during this project. We leave you with the most important of them:

• Challenging one's AD is essential in order not to go around in circles, as well as to be able to grow and keep up with trends
• Preparation is key: give yourself time to think before putting your ideas together
• Inspiration can come from anywhere, not just from competing companies, or even from other companies at all
• It is essential to know your values, your challenges and your desires, it is on that that everything else will be built

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Certainly as JOIN continues to evolve, this artistic direction will evolve with us. However, we now have a solid foundation on which to grow and advance the brand.

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