Tide — We helped unlock the value in their brand
Identity system, Illustration, Logo & brand marks, Site design
The Tide Foundation is focused on creating a new personal data economy with privacy at the heart. Backed by a group of tech heavyweights, they needed help in creating a brand that builds trust, in a marketplace notorious for ‘get rich quick’ crypto-currency schemes.
While many blockchain businesses position themselves as "anti establishment", Tide has created an ecosystem that benefits everyone. It’s an optimistic viewpoint that guided our strategic design approach.
How Tide works
It’s complex stuff, but in a nutshell, Tide is a not-for-profit foundation that gives consumers the power to monetise and securely share their personal data over blockchain with selected companies. It gives consumers more control, businesses more reliable data and marketers direct access to their target audience.
Building trust in a virtual world
With a proposition built around trust, Tide’s website needed to stand out from a sea of crypto wannabes and feel in tune with the authentic promise at the heart of the Tide Protocol.
Working with a wide range of audiences in mind, each requiring a different brand proposition, we illustrated a data-driven world that could easily tell the story. Adopting a minimalist illustration style gave us the chance to suggest a feeling of transparency, in an industry that’s largely unregulated.
As part of the identity, we created an isometric grid to represent the Tide Protocol, the three Ts of the logo showing the convergence of consumer, marketer and vendor. To balance Tide’s unprecedented offering, the brand is supported by a colour palette that doesn’t stray far from familiar tech tones of blue and grey.
Keeping the complex simple
The Tide Protocol may be built around complex technology, but the concept is relatively simple – Data isn’t a liability, it’s an asset. It’s a simplicity reflected in both the main website, which we created as a set of single, long scroll pages, and a private platform designed to manage sales in the Security Token Offering.
Content uses a bespoke set of our illustrations animated by Never Sit Still that lets the story unfold as you scroll on the site, and are also featured in a brand video.
A Tide take on business cards
Creating a nod to the protection of personal data, we added a layer of playful ‘encryption’ to Tide business cards. Taking the form of a silver coating on the card, which the recipient has to scratch away to unlock their new contact’s personal details.
