Building the Visual Identity

I worked directly with Xandr’s CBO to develop the brand strategy, positioning, and creative direction. For visual execution, I developed the strategic frameworks, initial visual concepts, and detailed creative briefs, then directed external creative partners, Milk Studios and Manual Labor, through execution, reviewing and refining work at every stage to ensure the visual system delivered on the thesis.

The visual system translated “Make Advertising Matter” into specific design principles: The brand’s signature Sunset Orange, bold, warm, deliberately not the safe navy-and-gray of every other ad tech company,  signaled energy and forward motion in an industry that had defaulted to looking trustworthy at the expense of looking alive. Six triangles form a hexagonal mark, a reference to AT&T’s iconic blue orb symbolizing its global and multi-continental connectivity, while creating further visual continuity through negative white space. The X itself was designed as a visual metaphor for intersection: data meeting content, audience meeting message, technology meeting creativity. The logotype was clean, lowercase, modern; a deliberate break from the legacy advertising world Xandr was built to replace.

A type system that read as technical without being cold, balancing the authority needed for a data-driven platform with the approachability required for a brand entering a new market. A data visualization language that made complex ad tech concepts feel clear and navigable, translating algorithmic precision into visual clarity.

The identity system extended across the full stack: brand mark, digital ecosystem, environmental design for launch events, sales collateral, partner toolkits, and a dual-lift anthem film (“Born To Matter”) designed for both brand-building and trade event activation.