Twilio's brand evolved organically across 12 years — but pandemic-era growth pushed the company to global enterprise scale faster than the brand could follow. The result: a fragmented system under-equipped to express what Twilio had become.
The task was a structural upgrade, not a refresh.
Twilio needed a capable, comprehensive, and connected brand system built for global scale, accessibility, distribution and consistency — without losing the irreverent maker spirit that defined Twilio from the start.
Hurry! Get the phone, someone’s calling…
Ahoy?
From code to color: brand world building, at scale.
Establishing new Brand Values kicked off the journey.
From there, our small, but mighty team put on our ‘strategic upgrade, brand alignment, design greatness, legendary events, Global inclusion, and accessibility’ hats and got to work.
To cover all bases, I divided the priorities:
EXTERNAL-FACING We needed a design path forward to stay relevant, rooted in insight and consumer analysis. For partner teams, visual systems would create for cohesion.
INTERNAL-FACING Resources for marketers to move at scale, brand clarity for program builders, a(n accessible) single-source-of-Brand-truth for all.
Fresh homepage
Homepage before
Homepage after
Modernizing imagery
Reflective of the updated Brand direction, this animated explainer video charted the new course of Twilio as a Customer Engagement Platform. Imagery demonstrated an elevated, expanded expression:
Representation: inclusive, nuanced customers with unique personalities
Color: expanding the breadth and sensibility to mature and add relevance
Use of 3D: represents fully realized customers, adding a new vocabulary to the imagery style
Brand success: measuring with metrics
Like a neglected garden, some parts of Global Brand didn’t grow at the same rate as others. To stop the atrophy, I established the first (ever) measurement metrics for the Twilio Brand. This would enable data collection to: a) establish a data-driven baseline and b) kick off project triage.
The approach included:
Data-driven: qualitative and quantitative metrics
Balanced and thorough: data gathered cross-functionally, internally and externally
Teams for the win: established cross-functional team, from VP-level leadership to members early-in-career all with a single timeline and mission
Future-facing: using a systematic approach to Trend & Insight forecasting, I trained the team up for what to expect in industry over the next 2+ years. This set them up to design for adaptation and lead into the (trend) curve.
Global Swag
At Twilio, swag merch was big business. Including apparel, accessories, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and custom, seasonal event gifting, the swag program supported everyone from leadership to internal culture, international customers to teams across the globe.
global support through online Swag Shop; connected to international production and shipping supply chains
designed in house, brand-aligned, as niche as possible
curated to support 3 pricing tiers
ethically and sustainably sourced and produced
With Global scale comes new challenges.
Starting with the Global launch of Twilio Sans in 2022, the identity got a massive top-to-bottom update including brand values, system structure, content guidelines, color, and imagery (illustration and customer photography).
Swag got an overhaul, too, including new upgraded product categories and building an internal ordering platform with Salesforce integration.
This badass, fresh system even got a cheeky new name reflective of Twilio’s history: Ahoy!
Client: Twilio
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Twilio global teams (EMEA, APJ, APAC, NAMER)
Season: 2021—2023
Role: Creative Direction, Art Direction, Brand Strategy lead, Project leadership
Disciplines: Creative & Art Direction, trend & insights, graphic design, storytelling strategy, apparel & packaging, digital design, website
Partners & collaborators: Jennie Janzen, Casey Stegman, Nathan Sharp, Aaron Olsen, Liz Bryson, Andrea Gonzales, Stephen Michal
Type design: Sharp Type
Illustration/mural: Spencer Gabor