Orbi: Branding Kit

We ran a competitive branding contest for Orbi — a pre-launch relationship-tracking app from Albuquerque, New Mexico — inviting four designers to each develop a distinct concept. After the client reviewed all directions and selected the strongest elements from each, we synthesized everything into one cohesive, polished brand identity system covering logo, color, typography, photography, voice and tone, and a custom mascot.

Client Background

Orbi is an early-stage startup building a mobile-first app to help people stay meaningfully connected with the relationships that matter most to them. At the project's outset the product didn't exist yet — the client came in with a thorough design questionnaire describing the feelings and personality they wanted their future app to evoke, and needed a foundational branding kit that would guide all future application design work.

Project Scope

Phase 1 — Design Contest. We organized a competitive brief and worked with four designers, each tasked with developing their own independent brand concept for Orbi. All four teams presented their work in a joint session with Noventum and the client, covering identity direction, visual language, color approach, and overall personality. The client evaluated each concept and identified the strongest elements across all four — certain directions for the logo, specific color instincts, typographic choices, and tonal qualities that resonated most.

Phase 2 — Synthesis and Delivery. We took the client's selections and combined the best of all four concepts into a single, unified brand system:
- Defined the brand essence and guiding principle — "design for approach, not avoidance" — translating the client's choices into a clear emotional direction: human, intentional, and connected, never guilt-driven or pressuring
- Created a logo system: a full "Orbi" wordmark plus a simplified standalone "o" icon mark, delivered in four variants
- Developed a four-color palette — Spring Wood (warm neutral background), Twilight (deep navy primary), Ember (terracotta accent), and Moss (calming secondary) — each with defined usage ratios and intentional meaning
- Built a four-tier typography system: MuseoModerno for the logo, Alan Sans for headings, DM Sans as the primary UI font, and DM Mono for accent details
- Established photography guidelines emphasizing authentic, candid human moments over polished stock imagery
- Applied the identity across real-world mockups — business cards, tote bags, apparel, and packaging
- Wrote voice and tone guidelines with concrete do/don't examples to keep all messaging warm and supportive rather than gamified or guilt-based
- Designed an original brand mascot, "Halo" — a calm otter character appearing at onboarding, daily prompts, milestone celebrations, and quiet check-in moments
- Delivered a complete 10-page brand system document, presentation-ready for ongoing reference by the client and future design teams

Key Outcomes

- A brand identity shaped directly by client preference, validated across four competing directions rather than a single agency bet
- A distinctive, emotionally coherent visual language that clearly differentiates Orbi from generic productivity or social apps
- A flexible logo and color system ready to scale across mobile UI, web, and physical merchandise
- Clear typography and tone rules that give the client's team a consistent reference for all future design work
- A memorable mascot character (Halo) that reinforces the brand's "calm guide, not cheerleader" personality throughout the user experience
- A foundation now actively guiding the in-progress application design phase

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