Leaf — Rebrand & Flexible Brand System
+ Creative Direction
+ Branding
+ Graphic Design
+ Brand Guidelines
Leaf’s rebrand was an organic evolution — a transformation shaped by the company’s growth and a changing vision.
The brand had outgrown its original identity: a bold, masculine aesthetic that no longer reflected its collaborative and forward-thinking nature.
Description
In 2024, after two years of subtle refinements and advocacy from within, I led a full rebrand initiative — redefining the logo, typography, and colour system while building a visual language that felt more human, contemporary, and cohesive across every touchpoint.
Challenge
Leaf’s original identity, built around a geometric symbol and Poppins uppercase logotype, had become rigid and overused. Its tone failed to reflect the brand’s evolving direction and culture.
The challenge was to retain recognisability while completely reimagining its visual foundation.
Beyond the main brand, the rebrand had to extend into five sub-brands — including Leaf’s products, podcast, blog, and web services — with the flexibility to accommodate future divisions.
Equally demanding was the practical layer: the typeface had to be a Google font, limiting the palette while requiring a distinct, ownable tone.
Every visual asset — from pitch decks and social templates to internal materials — would need to be redesigned under one unified system.
Typography exploration
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Approach & Process
The process began with a comprehensive brand audit and a typographic research workshop.
I explored multiple Google typefaces, testing each for legibility, tone, and balance alongside the existing circular symbol.
After extensive trials and feedback sessions with the founders, Mona Sans emerged as the perfect fit — a clear, modern, and rounded typeface that paired seamlessly with the mark, offering warmth without losing professionalism.
With typography defined, I restructured the entire visual language: a refreshed colour palette, refined grid systems, and a modular approach for digital and social use.
I designed over seven distinct social templates — adaptable structures for blog features, podcasts, events, client testimonials, case studies, and new partnerships — ensuring every asset aligned within the same cohesive system.
Parallel to this, I developed a brand book outlining logo usage, colour and type hierarchy, sub-brand guidelines, and visual direction, ensuring the system could expand fluidly as Leaf grew.
Logo explorations
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Outcome
The brand system was designed to scale— from a flexible identity architecture and sub-brand family to a refined typographic and colour palette. It included:
+ Brand system & sub-brands
+ Typography & colour palette
+ Visual identity guidelines
+ Social media worlds
+ Photography direction
+ Iconography & gradient system
+ 2D & 3D library
Impact / Reflection
The rebrand repositioned Leaf as a more mature, confident, and human brand — without breaking continuity with its origins.
It created visual unity across all channels and established a scalable system for future growth.
What started in 2022 as a quiet internal initiative evolved into a complete transformation that touched every layer of communication — from strategy and design to daily operations.
For me, this project represents how design can guide evolution with patience and purpose — turning gradual change into lasting coherence.