overview
I joined Witbe as a Graphic Designer in March 2021, a pivotal time in the B2B company. As a Graphic Designer I took the initiative to independently organize and propose a rebranding effort. My proposal was accepted and I was promoted to Marketing Art Director where I lead the new brand project and a team of my own.
role: creative director, senior designer
responsibilities:
Brand Direction
Creative Direction
Visual Design
UX/Web Design
Product Design
Video Production
Photography
Positive Vibe Distributor
a little bit about Witbe
“Witbe provides a comprehensive test automation and monitoring technology suite for video service providers. We stand out by testing video quality on real devices. This "user-centric" approach helps us measure the true Quality of Experience that viewers receive.”
Witbe found major success in the European market and decided to expand their operations to the North America. They relied on their reputation and revolutionary technology in Europe to catapult them into a dominant position, but North America proved to be a more competitive market and their reputation did not reach as far. Witbe’s marketing and branding needed bolstering to tackle this problem.
When I was hired as a Graphic Designer, I recognized Witbe’s brand presence did not match their technological ambitions and took it upon myself to begin work on a rebranding effort. I also observed a disconnect between management, writers and design and set out to create a design system that could be employed by everyone involved in the process.
challenge
before
after
Since the business was founded in 2000, the existing brand had been getting by and operating with one element: the color blue. Witbe’s technology was so revolutionary that they managed to stake a claim with such a limited branding toolkit. Although Witbe had put little organized effort into their brand, CEO Mathieu understood the value of creating a recognizable look and feel that goes beyond visuals. Fortunately, Witbe keeps close relationships with their customers and have great awareness of their clients and audience. This served as a key factor when it came time to construct a plan.
process
discovery and definition
Discovering and defining Witbe’s positioning enabled productive conceptualization and informed decision-making. Discovery involves revealing how customers and real people talk and feel about Witbe outside their influence. These insights prepared me to make educated predictions about the direction Witbe’s audience expected the company to grow and how to accentuate the brand around those expectations. Having a solid grasp on expectations helps shape how the brand will grow and how it will influence Witbe’s audience.
The following are a few strategies I used through this step:
Background research
Stakeholder interviews
Online surveys
User personas
Competitive analysis
foundation
Once Witbe’s position was defined, I moved to apply that information and start to shape an identity. Excellent branding goes beyond visuals; brand foundation involves fully understanding the company’s story, motivations and ambitions, assembling them into a system that can be applied to any external or internal communications.
In this step, I aimed to define the building blocks of the brand. Assembling these blocks into one cohesive structure creates a living, breathing brand that will stand strong independently:
Mission
Story
Promise
Values
Voice
Mission
What is Witbe’s mission? What do they aim to accomplish through business? Is there an end-goal? These are questions that needed answered to create a tangible intent behind the brand. Witbe’s mission was to deliver a platform to truly gauge end-user experience.
Story
It’s important to acknowledge your roots in order to grow. There’s no difference when it comes to building a brand identity. Once the mission is defined, I like to ask why. Why does Witbe care about end users and quality of experience? The founders of the company were major contributors in the growth of ISPs in France earlier in their careers and their experience helped them highlight a niche in the market. They noticed there was plenty of content but no service to ensure the content was being distributed at an acceptable quality. This unique, user-centric story needs to be remembered and acknowledged with every brand communication.
Promise
Witbe’s promise is to remain true to end-users. Witbe’s services were created to make sure businesses deliver high-quality products because at the end of the day, end-users decide which service they will use based on quality consistency and value.
Values
Witbe never stopped to sit down and formalize their values. When I asked the executives about it, their answer was very honest. Witbe focuses first and foremost on innovation and being the best at what they offer, all to serve as better partners to their clients.
Voice
The brand’s voice is delivered through words and visuals. Witbe’s voice is technical, approachable and a little witty.
Typefaces page from the typography chapter of the brand book. This page defines acceptable fonts and applications.
identity, assets and deliverables
This step involved creating a library of visual components and a new process. I aimed to assets that were as versatile as possible, but also created individualized assets for particular teams and situations. This step was time consuming and involved creating rules and regulations for distinctive teams and processes.
I began with the basics: logos, typefaces and colors. These universal assets could be used by any team on any project, so I followed these with specific rules tailored to each team. For example, for the web products team I shared standard sizes in which logos could be displayed as well as compatible colors and margin rules for each size.
Logo scales and margin rules.
launch
The final step involved creating a strategy to execute the new brand and distribute deliverables. Building upon positioning, story, and values, I developed the visual manifestation of the brand and began internal research on how to best distribute it.
I created a design system that touches on every role in the pipeline. Developing this system involved interviewing management, product teams and anyone involved in brand communications. I took notes, observed and learned about existing systems among individual teams and how they collaborated to create and validate assets.
Upon completing my research, I presented my findings to company management and team leadership and discussed means to centralize assets and standardize design validation. I created a globally accessible location with assets tailored to each team alongside templates and applicable examples from the brand book.
Research analysis presentation with company management and team leadership.
After 30 days, I followed up with each of the product teams to hear about how they adapted the design system to their individual process. I was happy to learn that teams were picking up and implementing assets and templates and improving upon their workflows.
Three months following the presentation, I checked in again to see how things were going. Managers reported improved workflows and productivity boosts of up to 50%. Common trends among feedback included an appreciation for global assets and having a clearer picture of how the brand applies to their product helped lead conversations and design decisions.
After observing products from these teams, I noticed a much more unified look between different applications. Before, there was a clear visual separation due to colors, components and other design choices. There is a clear turning point in recent versions in which designs are more unified and appear to come from the same place.
results
photography and videography
A big part of the rebranding process was updating graphics. The previous rendition of the brand leaned heavily on illustrations but this look didn’t lend to the serious tone that Witbe’s leadership was looking for.
Hiring a photographer and capturing a consistent style of shooting is expensive and difficult. As an experienced photographer, I employed my skills to create a striking, technically impressive style of photography to represent Witbe and its products.
By doing the photography myself, I saved Witbe at least $20,000 in 2023.
Witbox One product launch video.
Witbe at the IBC2023 trade show.
conclusion
Building Witbe’s brand offered many new learning opportunities for me as a designer and as a professional. I have had experience building brands for small businesses and startups, but I had to change my approach for a larger company like Witbe. As the acting art director and designer, I had the opportunity to educate myself on the workings of different teams and how branding applies to them, rather than simply creating a pack of logos and rules or designing a website and saying “good luck!” Designing and conceptualizing the visuals was fun and rewarding, but the real challenge was expanding and building the brand through language, values and interactions.
I met with and understood processes across the company and learned how to create and distribute a system that would be realistically functional for the whole company. Doing so required educating myself on Witbe’s foundations and values and reflecting them in a design system alongside further studies on brand implementation. I currently oversee Witbe’s brand visuals and interactions and consider the new brand and strategy to be highly successful. The look and feel is professional, unique and recognizable and the new branding has generated new business opportunities for Witbe!