Since the inception of Flodesk, we’ve always put our members at the forefront of every decision we make. Our brand refresh reflects our values and is informed by the creative energy of the diverse Flodesk community.
We originally created Flodesk to empower our members with an easy-to-use streamlined platform to enhance their brands via stunning emails. But Flodesk is more than just nice aesthetics—it’s also about the continuous process of crafting and nurturing a relationship with your audience. Acknowledging this, we embarked on an update to our visual identity to provide a more holistic representation of Flodesk's essence.
For our reimagined brand system, 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, Flodesk’s new brand identity is designed to inspire, uplift, and support the prosperity of our members.
We wanted the brand to embody the warmth of our community and the rigor of our intuitive platform in an uncluttered and confident way. Together with DIA Studio, we crafted an identity that captures the flow of creativity and the function of purposeful technology.
FLODESK TYPEFACE
In order to create an identity system truly reflective of our brand values and strategy, we partnered with the Swiss-based type foundry Optimo and type designer François Rappo to develop a custom typeface.
François and the team at Optimo have a deep historical understanding of type design enabling them to properly execute a brief with purpose. It was also important to us that our brand and product have a clear connection. Our custom typeface renders crisply in tiny product use cases while maintaining an aesthetic quality in larger brand communications.
Flodesk Sans was designed as our main typeface and it straddles a delicate line between friendliness and functionality. The typeface 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 feels contemporary while evoking its historical roots. The typeface functions seamlessly in all settings, from tiny product UI to large-scale branded collateral, without losing its aesthetic quality.
On the other hand, Francios Rappo also designed Flodesk Serif, an altered version of JJannon that adjusts the x-height of it 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.
Conceptually, each of our typefaces reflects a key brand attribute—Flodesk Sans reflects our company's design rigour, while Flodesk Serif reflects the community’s voice. The result is something that feels contemporary while evoking its historical roots.
Our logo animation illustrates the flow and inherent connection between the two.
OUR SYSTEM
While Flodesk Sans and Flodesk Serif are our foundation, we wanted to elevate our typographic voice with a system that supports our concept and references our product features. We leveraged intrinsic elements and established a subtle but highly refined signature motion behavior that can be activated within both brand and product at various levels of expression.
We created a rich shape library that can be used graphically or as frames for content. Our primary shapes are based on the characters and fundamental shapes in our name. We then expand out into a secondary shape library that mirrors our product.
Our motion behavior flows and fills in our shapes and helps us transition through content. Whether using imagery or type there is always subtle forward movement and a sense of accomplishment and harmony.
The collaboration with DIA brought a dynamic dimension to our visual presence, giving Flodesk a distinctive, memorable signature.
If you wanna know more, check flodesk.com/brand for a visual walkthrough.
