The Branding Journey of Ooloi: Crafting an Identity That Resonates
For Ooloi, our journey has been marked by a commitment to creating impactful socio-technical solutions while establishing a brand identity that reflects our values and mission. This article chronicles our branding journey from inception to evolution, highlighting the pivotal moments and strategic decisions that have shaped Ooloi’s identity.
As a co-founder and designer at Ooloi, I’ve had the unique privilege of witnessing and guiding Ooloi’s brand evolution. Our journey from a fledgling idea to a thriving enterprise has been marked by significant changes in how we perceive ourselves and how we present our brand to the world. This article reflects on our transformation, the shift in our branding, and the essence of what Ooloi stands for today.
The beginning
In the summer of 2020, Ooloi was gaining momentum and our product was still evolving. We needed a brand identity (minimal Viable Brand) that helps shape the initial perception and interactions between us and the folks we want to work with, offering a glimpse into our vision, mission, and unique value proposition.
Understanding Our Core — Self Discovery
To lay a foundation, the four of us co-founders workshopped answers to some questions that prompted us to reflect on what resonated with us and what didn’t. By the end of this exercise, we had fleshed out the character of Ooloi, complete with its distinctive personality.
For example:
What does ooloi’s personality look like
- Ooloi is enterprising (experimental, innovative, jugaadu).
- Ooloi is optimistic in outlook and pragmatic in approach.
- Ooloi is approachable and inclusive.
- Ooloi is with you until the end (until the battle is won).
- Ooloi is a doer.
What Ooloi is not
- Ooloi is not an outsider. Ooloi works with you, for you, to achieve a larger goal.
- Ooloi is not a hero, but a sidekick — Alfred to Batman.
- Ooloi is not an embodiment of an individual but of a community.
- Ooloi is not an expert in an ivory tower; it is in the trenches with you.
Establishing a Minimal Viable Brand
I used these foundational questions to create visual guidelines. Our initial branding efforts focused on values that included humility, transparency, reliability, and being impact-oriented. Visually, we aimed to reflect enthusiasm, diversity, and a spirit of experimentation. The tone of our communication was designed to be humble, empathetic, and jargon-free, ensuring accessibility and relatability.
Elements of the minimal viable branding
We aimed for maximum flexibility in evolving our product and offerings. To ensure adaptability, we kept our elements simple and minimal. Our output included a logo, color palette, typography (utilizing Google fonts for maximum flexibility), visual language of watercolor illustrations, clear tone of voice, presentation templates, and a website.
Here is the logo creation document for reference with different directions: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bMaS15_Mt7FMGZxcSVLAw8K_25zP7LVh/view?usp=sharing
Evolving Our Brand
Over time, as Ooloi grew and evolved, we recognized the need to update our branding to reflect internal and external changes. At this stage we had a clear product offering. Our revised mission statement became: “Ooloi emphasises people and knowledge sharing.” This shift highlighted our commitment to community and continuous growth.
Our team had grown from 4 to 14 by then. With Kartika and Samarth (Visual Designers) on board, we gained the capability to push past our earlier limitations on branding. They spearheaded the efforts toward the new direction and seamlessly filled the gaps in our earlier branding.
Our initial brand identity had areas that needed improvement:
- Unapproachable: We aimed to make our content more approachable.
- Overwhelming: Simplification became a priority.
- Serious: We injected friendliness into our communications.
- Bland: We introduced more character and vibrancy.
- Pale Colors: We adopted a colorful and illustrated approach.
- Lack of Empathy: We emphasized grounded and relatable content.
New Direction for Branding
Our new branding direction focused on values like reliability, supportiveness, and an enterprising spirit. We sought to convey a personality that was approachable, transparent, inquisitive, hopeful, friendly, and inclusive. Our logo and sincere tone aimed to create a warm, welcoming image.
Visual Elements:
- Tangible, geometric, clean, and modular design.
- Use of straight lines, illustrated images for storytelling, and dynamic patterns.
- Warm, flat colors to evoke a sense of warmth and inclusivity.
We overhauled our website, focusing not only on visual improvements but also on clearly communicating our offerings. This involved adding multiple case studies to showcase the breadth of our work and the impact created using our product. Furthermore, we extended the new branding to our presentation templates and information brochure. Establishing a social media presence, we developed guidelines to ensure consistency across all platforms.
Conclusion
The branding journey of Ooloi has been a dynamic process of self-discovery and adaptation. From our beginnings in 2020 to our present evolved identity, we have continuously refined our brand to better reflect our mission and values. By staying true to our core while embracing change, we have built a brand that resonates with our community and supports our vision of creating impactful socio-technical solutions.
