The document provides an overview of the branding guidelines for Drift. It begins with the company's mission and values of being customer-driven and transparent. It then details the brand assets including the logo, colors, typography and visual style. The branding is meant to reflect Drift's culture of being human, learning-focused and using humor. Illustrations are used in a semi-realistic black, white and gray palette. Photos show the real people behind Drift.
3. Veronica
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Our Mission
Drift is how businesses all
around the world communicate
with their customers.
4. Our brand is a reflection of
our customers, our team, and
everything that we create.
Branding is more than a logo.
5. Part 1
Behind the Brand
Part 2
Brand Assets
Table of Contents
Brand Values
Human
Customer-Driven
Transparent
Our Culture
Some qualities that we value
Some things that we appreciate
Logo
Color
Typography
Voice
Social
6.
7. Behind the Brand
The values that
make us, well, us.
To us this is the really exciting stuff.
8. Brand Value #1
HumanPeople have learned to tune out marketing that feels like marketing.
So all of our marketing should feel like it's coming from a friend.
We are talking to people, so if you wouldn’t say it out loud to a
friend, don’t say it in a blog post, in a video, or on a landing page.
9. Customer-DrivenWe do things for our customers above all else. Not for us. Your feedback
matters the most, whether it’s something that’s a little hard for us to hear
or if it’s glowing praise. Feedback influences what we build next, how we
prioritize, and everything else we create.
Amanda
Hey there!
Absolutely, you can book a demo
time that works for you from my
profile: team.drift.com/amanda
Hey! I have a question about
Drift’s team directories.
10:31 AM Seen
10:30AM
I also have some questions
about the bot and your Salesforce
integration. Could we set-up
a demo?
Brand Value #2
10. Transparent
Brand Value #3
At Drift we believe in shipping, learning, and iterating. Our belief in transparency means that internally
we constantly share versions of our work with the team. But being transparent also means we need to
be open externally. And that means, well, sharing with you. That’s why we are sharing the first version
of our brand guide. Your feedback makes us better.
13. Brand Assets
Our values and
culture are the
foundation for
everything we write,
design, and record.
We know this wouldn’t be a brand book without
talking about our logo, typography, colors, and all
that tactical stuff. So let’s get to it. Here’s everything
that makes our brand — piece by piece.
14. Logo
Now for some background on our
logo. Get cozy, it’s story time. A
long, long time ago, Drift had two
Ts in the name: Driftt. So our logo
mark was originally created using
the two Ts in front, wrapping
around to form a group huddle
(because teamwork is ! ).
Check it out:
There you have it.
We’ve since updated our name to
have one T, but we maintain our
old logo mark. "
15. The black and white logos have
cut out Ts so that the color behind
is seen. When using the color
logo, the Ts are filled in with white.
Our logo should only be placed
on top of a black, white, grey, or
photo background. Always leave
plenty of white space around
the logo.
Full logo: Use the full logo when
speaking with an audience that
isn’t very familiar with Drift.
Logo mark: You’re welcome to
use the logo mark when you’re
speaking to an audience that
already knows Drift.
Please don’t alter the Drift logo in
any way. Thanks!
Logo Use
Color
Black and White
Logo Mark
17. Drift Blue
HEX #0176FF
Blue is the first color we use after
black and white. Blue is used in
our logo mark and throughout our
marketing. The blue is used to
differentiate our enterprise and
team plans.
Green
HEX #13CB6E
The green is used as another
accent color. It is also used to
brand our standard (free) plan.
Light Grey
HEX #F2F2F2
Secondary Colors
18. Typography
Proxima Nova
Light
Regular
Semi Bold
Bold
Proxima Nova is our primary
typeface. You’ll see it throughout
our website and in our marketing
materials. It is our go-to for all
things brand.
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Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn
Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu
Vv Xx Yy Zz
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Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg
Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn
Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu
Vv Xx Yy Zz
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Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg
Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn
Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu
Vv Xx Yy Zz
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Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg
Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn
Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu
Vv Xx Yy Zz
023456789
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19. Merriweather
Light
Light Italic
We use Merriweather to
compliment Proxima Nova. It
helps emphasize certain words or
change the tone. Visually it adds
texture, style, and personality.
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg
Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn
Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu
Vv Xx Yy Zz
023456789
*&%$#@!?
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff
Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm
Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss
Tt Uu Vv Xx Yy Zz
023456789
*&%$#@!?
20. Emojis
We ! emojis. Everyday we
message with our friends and
family using emojis, so why
not use them in all of our
communications?
Emojis help us be more
expressive, they add color to
communication, and they add
a little fun too.
⚡ # $ %
& ' ( )
* + , -
! . / ✌
21. If you’ve ever written an email to
a close friend or family member
(we’re guessing that’s most of
you) then you already know how
to write in the Drift voice.
At Drift, we write as if we’re
talking to people we’ve known
our whole lives. That means we
don’t try to impress folks with
fancy, complicated words.
Instead, we state things as simply
and as concisely as possible.
At the same time, we’re not afraid
to crack a joke or two. (Hey, we’re
friends, right?) One of our guiding
principles is to write like we talk.
And a lot of times that means
bucking traditional “business
writing” wisdom and using a
friendlier, more casual voice.
Voice
That means we’re friendly, conversational, human, warm,
and helpful. So if we wouldn’t say it out loud to a friend,
we wouldn’t use it in our copy.
We write as
if we were talking
to our best friend
over lunch.
22. When copywriters argue with me about some
esoteric word they want to use, I say to them, Get
on a bus. Go to Iowa. Stay on a farm for a week
and talk to the farmer. Come back to New York
by train and talk to your fellow passengers in the
day-coach. If you still want to use the word, go
ahead. Copy should be written in the language
people use in everyday conversation.
“
- David Ogilvy
23. Nobody likes to
be bossed around.
CTAs should be friendly, not forced. And never intrusive.
For example, here’s how we like to end our blog posts:
P.S. Can we send you an email?
24. We really like lists:
1. Lists are easier to read
2. Lists are direct and to the point
3. Lists make it easy to remember the highlights
25. Oh, and so we don’t forget, secondary pieces of information can go down here in Merriweather Italics.
Or we highlight them.
We also bold some important words.
26.
27. Social
Our community is super important
to us. So we use social media to
help connect with our community.
All of the same priciples that go
into our written and visual content
also applies to our social
communications.
Twitter.com/Drift
YouTube: Drift.com/YouTube
FaceBook.com/HeyDrift
Instagram.com/HeyDrift
Linkedin.com/company/driftt
____
ps. we use this social icon set (left)
pps. these are the kinds of
conversations we have with our
community (following page)
28.
29. Visual Language
Our illustration style at Drift
dances the line between fun and
professional.
On the one hand, we want to
show off our personality with our
illustrated graphics. So we don’t
strive for photorealism and we
often use visual metaphors.
On the other hand, we don’t
want to venture too far into
cartoon-land. So we avoid
illustrating people and we stick
primarily to a black, white, and
grey color palette.
Of course, every once in a while
we have to throw in a splash of
Drift blue or green. We can’t help
ourselves. !
30. Photography & Faces
We’re people after all. So we try
to show the are real humans
behind the brand.
We are constantly taking photos
in the moment, so more often
than not we use iPhone
photography. Benefits: we
capture more, it’s in the moment,
and it’s real. But sometimes we
use our dedicated office camera
when we’re feeling fancy.
Video has become an
increasingly important medium
at Drift for the same reasons.