The simple joy of design

Whether it’s fancy black and white photography or bold, frenetic collage art, we wanted to make sure Picsart is a welcoming home for any type of self expression or passion. While it’s amazing to witness a global community contributing their own edits, remixes, and perspectives on design, creating a visual system out of it can be chaotic.

One of the immediate things we wanted to solve with the new brand was how to continue championing all the different editing styles on the platform, while maintaining  a consistent look that is immediately recognizable. Ultimately, our approach was inspired by art museums and galleries. They have a similar problem – each gallery hosts different artists and styles, and yet there needs to be a common thread throughout the entire space. So how do museums do it? What ties all of the art together? Picture frames.

Our ‘frame’ is a bespoke background gradient that is created by borrowing three prominent colors from each creation we feature. That way, every design has a unique look while staying consistent overall.

During our research we noticed that instead of beginning with a blank white canvas, the majority of Picsart’s community uses photography as a starting point. So we chose to emulate the process by building our own repository of brand imagery as a starting point for the in-house design team, with the help of photographer Jacq Harriet.

Another important part of any successful brand that often gets overlooked is the Tone and Voice. Who is your brand as a person? What kind of personality does it have, and how do you approach it in your writing? We couldn’t have done it without the gracious help of the team at Hermit.

As we were developing our own tone, we imagined an art teacher with a rebellious flair. A mentor and a misfit. Someone who always sees your potential, and encourages you to go beyond what you think you might be capable of – and then some.

Every culture gravitates towards a different style of design, and every country has their own set of associations when it comes to symbols and colors. The color red, for example, has a very different ‘feel’ in Spain compared to China.

With the majority of Picsart creators based outside of North America, being a global design brand became one of our core principals. The last thing we wanted was to come across as another Western leaning company, with a typical ‘Silicon Valley’ tech company look. We worked together with country managers across the globe to hone in our designs for each country, and create bespoke compositions, campaigns, and principals for each culture.