Clearly defined visual identity | Colors | Typography | Iconography | Brand guidelines | Website redesign | Environment design
As creative director at Modulate Media, I worked with Camille Bergin, founder and CEO of Modulate Media, to refresh Star Catcher's brand identity and set them up as a leader in a competitive space industry. Their original blue palette offered little differentiation in an industry saturated with similar hues. Modulate Media's strategy began by defining Star Catcher's core message where Camille anchored their mission of building "the first power grid in space" around the ultimate source of power in our solar system: the Sun.
With the Sun as the star character, I developed a primary color palette that captured the essence of sunlight.
Former IDENTITY
Color: The primary and secondary palettes were dominated by blues and didn't include any Pantone equivalents. Blue? For the space industry? If I was Miranda Priestly (The Devil Wears Prada), now is when I would say: "Groundbreaking."
Narrative: The initial website did not explain Star Catcher's vision, or mission clearly, while design relied heavily on AI-generated imagery that was an inaccurate representation of the technology.
the refresh
I created a multi-level color palette that worked on both dark and light backgrounds. As stated earlier, the primary palette drew inspiration from sunlight traveling through space.
The secondary palette was strategically introduced to represent the Earth and Moon, complementing the Sun-centric primary identity. We kept Star Catcher's Electric Blue to allow a longer runway with some of the company's design assets.
A tertiary palette was also defined but intended for use only as subtle accents in certain company materials.
For typography, I advocated to keep one of Star Catcher’s initial typefaces: Monument. It was already working well for headlines and statements as it reinforced the futuristic and technical aspects of the company.
I updated the body copy typeface to Gotham as it provided a modern typeface that can carry futuristic appeal, when paired correctly. Its wide range of weights and styles enable expressive hierarchy in design, while the open letterforms make it easy to use for small text, something that is incredibly important when designing assets for smaller devices like phone screens.
I updated the body copy typeface to Gotham as it provided a modern typeface that can carry futuristic appeal, when paired correctly. Its wide range of weights and styles enable expressive hierarchy in design, while the open letterforms make it easy to use for small text, something that is incredibly important when designing assets for smaller devices like phone screens.
After the new visual branding and story narrative was established, I worked on the initial template and style guide for Star Catcher's updated website. This was a highly collaborative effort where I supported Modulate Media's CTO in the development of the site by providing all images and textures for the final product and launch.
My favorite asset creation for the refresh was designing a customized set of icons for Star Catcher to use on their materials as needed.
As creative director, I led the collaboration between Modulate Media and an external team to produce visually accurate renders and scenes of Star Catcher’s technology for use across all their channels and assets.
To further reinforce and maintain brand consistency, Modulate Media also established a uniform color filter for all photography assets. The main hurdle with this filter was making sure the Sol Yellow didn't become a McDonald's-yellow during the editing process.
Throughout the brand refresh, I mentored a junior designer through Star Catcher's environmental redesign of its physical space.
I also had the opportunity to wrap Star Catcher's tech-demo vehicle. Everything from vendor selection and communication, design, engineering-team review, proofing, and location facilitation was handled by me.
The new visual system created for Star Catcher allows the company to cater to its diverse target audiences, while allowing the flexibility to grow and scale over time.
