Brand Development as a Product Designer at Onramp
Who is Onramp?
Onramp was a startup aimed at connecting non-traditional technical talent (non-degree holders) with apprenticeships at companies like Google, Amazon, Twitch and more.
Their unique approach to empower technical candidates in their job application process resulted in high candidate and client satisfaction, and was central to their mission and brand.
Improving brand identity
Before jumping into work, it was crucial to understand the problem through user research. Then, brainstorming a variety of solutions and identifying the most important was key to ensuring we picked the right path forward.
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Though Onramp had positive feedback from candidates and clients who had personal experiences with the company, their original website and branding made it difficult to onboard new users.
Evidence of the problem was captured through the following data and research methods:
high bounce rate
user flow analysis
feedback surveys
customer support data
direct client feedback
Generally, users were very happy when communicating directly with team members, but on first visit often found themselves confused about the company’s purpose and key offerings.
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To find a solution, our team utilized a sticky notes activity followed by dot voting. We considered a wide range of solutions, then focused on identifying the most important issues. Ultimately, the decision had to balance fixing problems from the research phase and the overall goals of the business.
We settled on the following projects:
Create a new company style guide to improve branding, consistency, and messaging
Revisit user interfaces to provide clear user value and communicate offerings to new visitors
In this project, I will be highlighting the new Style Guide I created as I worked as a Product Designer / Developer at Onramp.
Onramp’s old style guide
(2019)
Onramp 2023 Styleguide
Brand Identity: Empowering, Accessible, Polished
About the style guide
Created in 2023 for the Onramp team, the style guide maintains an emphasis on clear, bold design meant to communicate an empowering tone for a diverse range of job seekers and business clients alike. This style guide became the foundation that allowed us to rebrand the Onramp website, social media, email templates, and all other touch points for the business.
Design improvements
A few changes in particular were highlighted as key improvements to the original style guide. These improvements allowed Onramp’s brand to be viewed as more accessible, polished, and empowering to users.
Improved accessibility of font, logo, and background pairings to meet contrast recommendations from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Developed brand recognition and consistency by reducing number of palette colors from 11 to 8, and primary & secondary colors from 4 to 2
Simplified the brand gradient down to a single hue with 2 variants - previously 5 hues without variants
Added new font typography that reads more corporate to communicate sentiments of polish, credibility, and trust to new users
Included recognized Onramp branding as primary colors, balanced by secondary colors to add a more vibrant, inclusive, and empowering feel
Bold pairings of heavy and light font weights, colors, and contrast that improved clarity
Onramp business cards using the 2023 style guide
Onramp LinkedIn profile using branding from the 2023 style guide
Redesigned login UI using the 2023 style guide
A call to action form using adapted branding from the 2023 style guide
Impact of the style guide
The design style guide was a great foundation for improving Onramp’s brand across all of their platforms. The team was able to easily integrate the new branding into our website, email templates, social media platforms, marketing assets, and more.
We received positive feedback and improved metrics on our website, indicating increased brand trust from candidates and clients. And as Onramp’s online presence grew, the style guide evolved to meet many different use cases.
However, user experience still had room for improvement. With the foundation of the new style guide, I was able to redesign key user experiences as I continued working as a Lead Designer and Developer at Onramp.