Software / SaaS
Workio
A complete brand system for a productivity SaaS — from blank page to documented identity.
- My role
- Brand lead — strategy, identity, illustration, web design
What came of it
The identity went live and the team applied it themselves
The company closed later. The brand was in market first, and the guidelines held without me.
The brief
A productivity SaaS with a name and nothing else. It needed to look credible next to established software brands without the budget of one, and the team needed to keep applying the brand themselves after I left.
What I did
- Ran the identity exploration and killed a warm peach-and-red direction before locking the system — the ruled-out route is documented as part of the rationale
- Designed the geometric wordmark, the standalone 'W' mark for app icon and favicon, and the signature blue (#0099e8)
- Paired Azo Sans with Adelle to balance the technical and the human
- Drew a custom illustration set of 15+ pieces so the brand never needed stock imagery
- Designed the full web layout at 1920px
- Wrote brand guidelines detailed enough to brief a developer, a print supplier, or a replacement agency without loss of fidelity
How it went
Workio needed a brand that could hold its own in the productivity software space — confident, clean, and scalable. I built it from the ground up: strategy, logo, colour, typography, illustration, and web design, all documented in a set of brand guidelines that the team could hand to any designer and get consistent results.
The brief was to create something that felt professional and considered — not startup-scrappy, not corporate-stiff. The name 'Workio' suggested energy and forward motion, so the visual identity needed to match: a bold geometric wordmark, a standalone 'W' mark that worked as an app icon and favicon, a signature blue (#0099e8) that owned the space.
I explored several directions — including a warmer peach-and-red palette that was deliberately ruled out — before locking the system. That iteration discipline matters: knowing what you're not is as important as knowing what you are.
Beyond the logo, I designed the full web layout at 1920px, developed a custom illustration set of 15+ pieces, and selected a typeface pairing — Azo Sans and Adelle — that balanced the technical and the human. Everything was packaged into brand guidelines thorough enough to brief a developer, a print supplier, or a new agency without losing fidelity.