Brand Identity • Creative Operations • Visual Design Systems
Evolving Expel’s Brand Through Change
Built a scalable, modern brand system during a time of organizational change by focusing on creative operations, collaboration, and a clear design vision.
Summary
As Creative Director, I led a strategic refresh of Expel’s visual identity during a time of organizational change and uncertainty. With a small, focused team, we rebuilt the brand across every touchpoint—from the website and marketing assets to internal communications and sales materials.
The work resulted in a modern, scalable design system that improved clarity, consistency, and trust across the business. It all came together with the company-wide launch of self-serve templates and sales presentation tools that made it easier for teams to create high-quality, on-brand materials.
Role
Creative Director
Scope
Brand Identity Refresh
Brand Strategy
Visual Design System Development
Brand Enablement and Adoption
Company Deck Template Design
Vendor and Agency Management
Front-End Web Design
Company
Expel
Before
After
The Challenge
Expel’s visual identity hadn’t kept pace with the evolution of the business. As the company matured, the brand lacked the clarity, consistency, and flexibility teams needed to move quickly and communicate with confidence. With shifting priorities, leadership changes, and limited resources, the challenge wasn’t just to refresh the visuals—it was to build a brand system that could scale, adapt, and support the business through ongoing change.
Outdated Branding and Visual Identity
The existing visual identity had retained a playful, informal tone that no longer aligned with Expel’s position in the cybersecurity market. The brand lacked the maturity and credibility needed to reflect the company’s evolution and connect with enterprise buyers.
Bridging Internal Culture and External Perception
Internally, the company embraced a casual, irreverent tone. Externally, we needed to present a more focused and professional image to build credibility with security leaders. Balancing these two sides of the brand was a core strategic challenge.
Lack of Clarity and Brand Enablement Across Teams
When I joined, there were multiple versions of the brand in use across the organization. Teams weren’t always sure what was current, what was approved, or how to use the assets they had. Without strong brand enablement or centralized guidance, materials were often outdated, improvised, or inconsistent — especially across the website, sales decks, and marketing campaigns.
Rapidly Shifting Priorities and Organizational Change
Leadership transitions, reorgs, and shifting business needs made it difficult to define a stable roadmap. We had to push the refresh forward while adapting to changing priorities, without the benefit of a single rollout moment.
The Approach
The brand refresh took shape during a time of shifting priorities and evolving leadership. Rather than wait for the perfect conditions, I focused the team on steady progress — balancing immediate needs with a long-term vision. By grounding our decisions in strategy and adapting as we learned, we delivered a flexible brand system that scaled with the company.
Start Small, Scale Intentionally
Rather than isolate the brand refresh, we partnered across marketing, sales, and customer success to understand real-world needs. This helped us prioritize what mattered most, validate early decisions in live contexts, and ensure we were building tools teams would actually use.
Let Strategy Shape the System
We began with a brand audit and competitive review to understand where we stood and where we needed to go. These insights informed a refreshed visual system, including an evolved illustration style, a more intentional use of photography, and a scalable design foundation that felt professional without losing the company’s personality.
Evolve Thoughtfully Through Change
Without a single moment for a full rollout, we approached the brand as a living system we could refine over time. Each release became a checkpoint—a chance to reflect, adjust, and build momentum. Over time, the system matured into a more complete and cohesive identity.
Drive Adoption Through Insight and Enablement
We partnered with product research to gather feedback from internal teams and understand why past brand systems hadn’t stuck. Those insights shaped self-serve templates and presentation tools that directly addressed their needs. The result was stronger adoption and positive feedback from key enterprise customers.
Before & After: Company Deck Redesign
Our redesigned sales deck introduced modular layouts, visual clarity, and flexible templates built around the needs of customer-facing teams, resulting in faster adoption and positive feedback from the field.
