A brand new Brand System for Indeed
Brand Development: building a first-of-its-kind brand identity deeply rooted in user insights, enhancing both usability and accessibility and establishing a comprehensive design system that would serve as the single source of truth for all UI and brand design, driving consistency and efficiency across the organization.
Challenge
Indeed Inc., a pioneer in connecting job seekers with employers, faced a daunting challenge. After 15 years of rapid growth, the company’s visual identity had become a fragmented mess—disparate typography, ad-hoc visual designs, and no unified design system. The lack of a cohesive brand identity was hindering user experience and consistency across their global digital marketplace.
Previous attempts to define this identity through external agencies failed to align with Indeed’s culture of optimization and data-driven decision-making. Recognizing the need for an internal approach, Indeed invested in creating a dedicated Brand Systems team. As the Creative Lead and UX Design Manager, I was tasked with leading this transformative initiative.
Objectives
Define a distinctive brand color palette
Transform and mature Indeed’s color palette to reflect its growth into the world’s number one job search engine.
Develop branded typography
Craft a custom typeface that enhanced readability and complimented the brand’s human, trustworthy voice.
Design a characteristic illustration style
Craft a cohesive style and library of ownable illustrations bringing a consistent layer of life and tactility to the user experience.
Develop meticulous motion guidelines
Define foundational motion principles to ensure animations and interactions are functional and add value to the user journey.
Curate a bespoke icon system
Introduce a cohesive set of icons that are contextually orienting, scalable, and add clarity to user interface designs.
Deployed through Indeed’s design system
Integrate all brand expressions with a velocity-adding design system that serves as the single source of truth for all product design.
Approach
All design changes were validated through rigorous multivariate testing against existing UI elements, with a focus on improving usability, accessibility, and business outcomes. Semantic research was conducted to understand how users perceived the brand in the absence of a defined identity, providing critical insights that shaped our direction.
Execution
Our team delivered the brand identity through the design system and supported teams across Indeed to adopt Indeed’s new brand expressions giving our product distinct look and feel We created the foundational tools, patterns, processes, and guidelines that all teams used to build products at scale. All work was informed by brand creative, product, design, and engineering teams.
Contribution
Team leadership
Managed a cross-functional design team over a 9-month period to develop and refine the visual identity. My leadership ensured that all team members were aligned, motivated, and focused on delivering exceptional quality.
Governance & documentation
Developed and published detailed governance documentation and guidelines, ensuring marketing and product design teams had clear, actionable resources to maintain the brand’s integrity post-launch.
Cross-department coordination
Collaborated with marketing, product, and user experience teams to ideate, workshop, and finalize design solutions. My coordination efforts were key in designing and defining distinctive brand expressions.
Implementation & validation
Led the deployment of the new visual identity across product UIs, coordinating extensive user testing to validate the design decisions, and providing brand design support for uplifting deprecated patterns and UI.
Team growth and development
By establishing clear career milestones and providing ongoing coaching, I cultivated a high-performing, motivated team that was instrumental in driving the project’s success.
Ongoing support
Provided augmented UI design support, enabling teams to seamlessly integrate the new brand identity into their daily workflows, thereby ensuring quality, consistency, and efficiency.
Results & impact
By 2021, Indeed’s R&D teams were fully utilizing the brand system, which had become the definitive source of truth for UI and brand design, accelerating product development and reducing time-to-market.
Impact on business
The new system alone led to a 3.9% revenue lift in a 4-week test in the employer funnel resulting in an estimated $38 million annualized revenue—a significant impact on the bottom line.
Brand perception
Research post-launch revealed that users in key regions perceived the new visual identity as more mature and better aligned with Indeed’s brand and mission to help all people get jobs.
Product consistency
The visual system improved visual consistency across all product and marketing surfaces, making the brand system simpler and more accessible to users and designers.
Conclusion
This case study demonstrates how, through strategic leadership and a user-centered design approach, I was able to transform Indeed’s fragmented visual identity into a cohesive, impactful brand presence that resonated globally, drove business growth, and enhanced the overall user experience.