The authorized sector will not be identified for vibrant, optimistic branding, extra typically leaning into company tones and tech clichés. Nonetheless, you will discover fairly the other once you take a look at Otherways’s latest work for Robin, an AI-powered authorized platform.
When tasked with refreshing its id, Otherway was challenged to interrupt from expectation and flip the script on what authorized tech can feel and look like. This was all distilled right into a easy provocation that drove the inventive technique: “New Authorized”.
“This got here from the reality that Robin permits its customers to completely management and perceive the authorized elements of their companies, eradicating friction, accelerating selections, and serving to their firms develop with confidence,” says Rosie Pearmain, head of design at Otherway.
“We translated this into a visible world the place authorized can flourish: flying by means of considerable landscapes, filled with optimism and risk. This flips the same old narrative of authorized as a barrier, displaying as an alternative the way it can unlock progress. We wished to place Robin with optimism.”
One of the placing facets of the brand new model is its painterly illustration fashion. As a substitute of chilly company motifs, the visible language is constructed round lush forests, pure textures, and natural types. Otherway partnered with illustrator Ariel Lee to convey this world to life.
In line with Rosie, Otherway wished the design to really feel tactile and human, which is why they selected Ariel for the illustrative work. She describes how her fashion gave the “emotive contact” they had been in search of, additionally complementing the intense RGB colors and modernity.
“Robin is a device made by individuals, for individuals, with AI enhancing the expertise,” says Rosie. “There is a sense that the illustrations had been created digitally, which helped us subtly floor all the things in tech and innovation.”
Even with that nod to digital creation, they nonetheless keep away from sterile ‘machine’ aesthetics, leaning into heat with out shedding credibility.
Otherway noticed a possibility to transcend a beauty refresh and inject precision and scalability when evolving the prevailing robin icon.
Jordan Mann, design director at Otherway, says: “It was already bringing a contact of humanity to the model in a class filled with generic ‘course of’ impressed marks, so it was crucial to carry onto its pleasant character whereas dialling up the credibility and a way of precision.
“We had been additionally eager to make sure it was optimised for a extra sq. app icon format.”
Alongside this, the wordmark was refined with a heavier, extra condensed serif, giving authority whereas sustaining heat. The workforce additionally shifted the color palette away from predictable blues and purples, introducing a “red-breast” model hue impressed by the fowl itself.
“In a class so densely populated with chilly company tones, we had been eager to convey a contact of heat and optimism,” Jordan says. “Leaning into the color most strongly related to a Robin supplied a easy reply to this, positioning Robin because the antithesis of the faceless world of AI.
“We knew we wished to chop by means of the class and depart the tropes of blue magic stars behind.”
The id wanted to work throughout a large set of purposes, from UI design to movement graphics, so Otherway developed a complete system to make sure consistency with out sacrificing flexibility.
Jordan explains: “The model portrays readability and calm, stripping away complexity to create a composed, reassuring expertise.
“It embraces natural expression, utilizing pure textures and a way of movement and flight that metaphorically evokes progress and a way of humanity. And it is constructed on purpose-driven design, shifting past generic tech palettes and injecting persona by means of considerate interactions and movement.”
These ideas enabled the id to increase throughout all the things from painted illustrations to digital interfaces, whereas constantly sustaining readability. Movement additionally performs a quiet however essential position, with delicate animations used to create a way of development and ease.
“Our method to movement was rooted in creating calm readability,” Jordan says. “Each element is designed to reaffirm a way of development and transformation.”
Behind the inventive decisions sits Robin’s mission to reframe the position of regulation in enterprise. As a substitute of slowing firms down, it goals to empower them to make quicker and extra assured selections. That ambition is mirrored in a model that balances custom with innovation by means of a serif wordmark nodding to credibility, paired with digital ecosystems that convey risk.
“In a class that usually feels company and conventional, and with the added layer of AI, the chance was ending up someplace scientific or machine-like,” Rosie says. “As a substitute, we struck a stability: a nod to custom by means of serif sort, a nod to tech by means of UI-driven graphics, however an total emphasis on tactility and heat.”
Otherway’s work with Robin has clearly positioned the corporate as a reliable accomplice by changing the coldness that so typically defines authorized tech with humanity and heat. It would even change our perceptions of regulation itself.
