Cake

Cake had evolved since its inception however there were many ideas, intentions and powerful cultural elements that had not been clarified. In our experience, brands that stand for something that is unique and powerful are brands that move people and change industries. It was up to us to uncover what truly makes Cake different and how that could be harnessed as a powerful asset, both locally and abroad. Through extensive desktop research, interviews and multiple workshops, we distilled the essence of Cake and structured it into key components of communication. Cake’s vision, brand pillars and values took shape. This ultimately culminated in a memorable and distinct purpose - to power the exponential - which talks to not only the financial and start-up nature of their core product, but their greater goal of transforming traditional employment dynamics.

During our strategy phase we conducted an audit of the current identity; from typography and colour, through to illustrations and photography. We agreed that it had served Cake well to this point, but there was an opportunity to better communicate their mission to the world. We set to work and ultimately evolved the identity based on a creative idea called ‘flow’. Flow captured Cake's belief that the work of tomorrow is not split between the office and home, weekdays and weekends. Instead it is more aligned with our values and lifestyle; sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s hard. We’re no longer cogs in a machine, we’re working together and appreciating the humanity behind it all.

After exploring both logomarks and wordmarks, we settled on a custom wordmark that evolved the original by injecting this sense of flow. The end result is a more memorable mark, with a distinct link back to the original.

A unique graphic device was created to further extend the identity. Born from the familiar ‘doughnut’ style chart but reimagined with gradients and crops, the device would help reinforce flow. It was versatile too - serving as either a support for illustrations and photography, or as an injection of visual interest to support copy.

Speaking of illustrations and photography, we provided styleguides on both, allowing Cake another way to express the fast-paced world of founders and their teams. Custom iconography was also developed, transitioning into the product UI.