zke mail
Rebranding a digital and physical crypto startup
ZK Email is a startup operating in the web3 and zero-knowledge space. They provide a set of open-source SDKs that allow onchain transactions to be securely approved through email, instead of complex wallet interactions. In short, they are working on the future of identity proofs and bringing web3 to the masses.
I worked directly with the ZK Email team, leading discovery workshops, creative direction, and final output.
Type
BRand
Duration
4 weeks - October 2024
Role
Creative Direction, Brand
My branding process
Alongside these steps, I had ongoing syncs with the ZK Email team to get feedback and keep honing in on how I could bring their vision to life.
1
Brand Discovery Call
I started by chatting with the ZK Email team about scope and vision - where does their brand currently exist? Where are the best brand moments to reinvent for impact?
2
Brand Essence Workshop
Next, we went through a 2-hour workshop I prepared in FigJam to gain greater clarity with the team about the essence of ZK Email: their users, goals, and brand.
3
Design Iterations & Revisions
The rest of my time consisted of several rounds of design iterations and meetings with the team, nailing down their vision with a brand guide and merch.
Discovering the ZK Email team's roots, values, and vision
I hosted a brand kickoff workshop in FigJam with the ZK Email team. My favourite part of this project was getting to know the ZK Email team better - they are a wonderful and cracked squad of developers who believe in transparency and security. I helped pinpoint the struggles they were having with communicating their value to developers and general users who are unfamiliar with crypto.
Highlights
An approachable brand built on trust, security, and progress
Below are highlights of the brand book I created for ZK Email.
Visualizing the brand in action
I created web design explorations of the brand book in user to help the ZK Email team envision the world we were creating together.
This was also a great way to "test" the brand and feel out what parts worked and still held true to the branding discovery workshop - and improve the parts that weren't hitting the mark.
Postcard and merch designs
I designed postcards, stickers, clothing designs in preparation for DevCon 2024.
Empowering the ZK Email team to grow the brand
Since collaborating with the team on their new brand, it's been a pleasure to watch them expand on it in marketing and product.
retrospective
Lessons and reflections
Create systems for receiving valuable feedback
Branding has become one of my favourite pillars of design. It's unbelievably messy and iterative, and I quickly learned that I needed to create artifacts and structure meetings to get feedback that would be constructive, instead of getting distracted by fonts or colours too early on. Shoutout to FigJam for being my tool of choice when creating discovery workshops and inspiration boards.
With more time…
With more time, I would have loved to expand on the initial brandbook and fleshed out more web design assets. The ZK Email team was also working on several mobile applications, so I would have loved to tinker around with components and social media assets to continue bringing their brand to life.