Creating a narrative and purpose behind action
Problem:
The visual brand needs to represent the key pillars of the PIE portfolio and goals. While there is a visual approach, the structure and cohesion that a brand needs to stand on doesn’t exist.
Solution:
Establish a visual brand that encompasses the driving message of the organization, and create a design standard for a functional stepping stone to communications and product branding throughout Azure PIE.
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The first objective was to explain to leadership why their approach was flawed. And give them the motivation and critical eye to see what the possibilities were.
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Our North Star was the product branding that was produced for other Microsoft B2B products and services. Pushing to a more Nuemorphic design style helped align us to other best practices, creative direction, and establish a more polished visual approach across the board.
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After a few rounds of feedback and collaboration, we were able to narrow down our options to a few that we felt mapped back to both a solid visual direction, and would represent the key pillars that the Azure PIE leadership needed to represent.
Aligning Product + Service to Brand
The supporting goal of the PIE rebrand was targeting the products and services that had neglected their visual brand by either never approaching design, or having a sub-par execution handled by non-designers. There are many sub-brands under the PIE umbrella, and just as we followed a strict and collaborative process with PIE leadership, we brought those teams along with us on the journey.
