Rydin Brand
Identity System
ROLE
Creative Lead — Strategy, Design & Rollout
SCOPE
Brand Book · Social Media Policy ·
Asset Library
TIMELINE
2022 – Present
Rydin
THE SITUATION
No standards.
No source of truth.
No system.
When I joined Rydin in 2022, there was no brand playbook. No color standards. No typography guidelines. No rules about how the logo could or couldn't be used. Every designer, vendor, and department was making independent visual decisions — and the result was a brand that looked different depending on where you encountered it.
I identified the gap, proposed the project to leadership, and took on full ownership of creating Rydin's first-ever Brand Book — a comprehensive visual identity system designed to align every team, from marketing to sales to external partners, around a single, cohesive brand.
My role: I led this project independently from discovery through rollout, working directly with department managers and the Company President to ensure the system reflected both the company's existing equity and its direction forward. This wasn't a design assignment handed down — it was a problem I saw, a solution I proposed, and a system I built.
Rydin Social Media post prior to Brand Book publication with incorrect sized "squished" logo.. I since, made it properly proportional.
DISCOVERY & AUDIT
Understanding what existed before defining what should.
Before designing anything, I needed to understand what existed. I conducted an audit of Rydin's existing materials — collateral, digital assets, signage, social content — cataloguing what was being used, what was inconsistent, and what was missing entirely.
What I found confirmed the problem: there was no single source of truth. Logo files existed in multiple versions with no usage rules. Color was applied inconsistently across print and digital. Tone of voice varied by whoever happened to be writing. The brand had history, but no standards.
I also reviewed visual conventions across Rydin's competitive landscape — parking management, municipal services, and B2B product companies — to understand where the brand needed to position itself.
BRAND STRATEGY & VISUAL DIRECTION
Defining the visual personality — and the reasoning behind it.
With the audit complete, I defined the visual and verbal personality that would anchor the Brand Book — making deliberate decisions and being able to articulate the reasoning behind each one.
Color palette: Rydin's existing blue carried trust and authority, so I built the primary palette around it, introducing a red accent to add urgency and visibility in wayfinding and CTAs, and a range of grays to give the system flexibility across print and digital — from trade show signage to digital campaign assets.
Typography: Novarese-Ultra was chosen for its distinctive authority at display sizes — a strong, confident serif that communicates credibility and professionalism. Paired with DIN Alternate for body copy and UI contexts, the system balances character with clarity across every application.
Visual personality: Rydin's visual identity needed to feel reliable and precise — reflecting the operational nature of the product — while remaining accessible enough for the range of audiences the brand serves.
I presented the brand direction to department managers and the Company President before moving into full execution, ensuring alignment at the leadership level before committing to production
WHAT THE BRAND BOOK INCLUDED:
The final Brand Book covered every dimension of Rydin's visual and verbal identity:
Logo system
Primary lockup, alternate configurations, clearspace rules, color variations, and a full misuse guide
Voice & tone
written standards covering brand language, communication style, and examples across different contexts and audiences
Color palette
Primary and secondary colors with CMYK, RGB, and HEX specifications, and clear guidance on digital vs. print application
Mission & Purpose
The company's core mission statement, value proposition, and brand promise, giving every team a shared foundation for communication decisions.
Typography
Typeface selection, hierarchy, sizing, pairing rules, and usage across digital, print, and presentation contexts
Social Media Policy
Platform-specific guidelines, posting standards, content pillars, and community management principles
Photography & imagery style
guidelines for subject matter, composition, tone, and what to avoid
Applied examples
Real-world applications showing the system in use across social graphics, email, trade show materials, and print collateral
ROLLOUT & ADAPTATION
A brand system is only as good as the people using it.
Once the Brand Book was complete, I distributed it across all departments and built a centralized asset library — templates, approved files, and brand-ready resources — so that non-design staff could produce on-brand materials independently, reducing bottlenecks and revision cycles from day one.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Brand-aligned social graphics following the new visual standards
TRADE SHOW
Large-format materials designed under the new brand system.
PRINT & DIGITAL
Email headers and template created using the complete brand system.
THE OUTCOME
Design that solved a business problem — and built a system that lasted.
10+
Teams company-wide now
working from one visual standard.
↓
Revision cycles reduced —
vendors submit on-brand on first pass.
✦
Featured on trade show
social channel
The Brand Book didn't just solve a design problem. It gave Rydin a shared visual language — one that now governs how the brand shows up across every channel, campaign, and customer touchpoint. It has become the onboarding reference for new hires, vendors, and agency partners.
REFLECTION
"Building a brand system from zero taught me that the hardest part isn't the design — it's the definition. Before I could set a color, I had to understand what Rydin stood for and how it needed to be perceived."
Before I could write a logo usage rule, I had to audit everything that had been done without one.
If I were taking on this project today, there are four things I'd approach differently.
LEADERSHIP ALIGNMENT EARLIER
I presented the brand direction to leadership before moving into full execution — but I'd now bring key department heads into the conversation even earlier, during the discovery phase rather than the approval phase. People adopt standards more readily when they feel involved in shaping them. Earlier alignment also compresses the revision cycle, because you're building toward a shared vision rather than pitching one.
A STRUCTURED ADOPTION PLAN
Distributing the Brand Book was the right first step, but I'd now pair it with a formal rollout — a walkthrough session for each department, a quick-reference one-pager for non-design staff, and a clear point of contact for questions. A great brand system only works if the people using it understand it and feel confident applying it. Distribution alone doesn't guarantee adoption.
MORE DELIBERATE FONT SELECTION AND CLEARER USAGE GUIDELINES
Typography is one of the most consequential decisions in a brand system and one of the easiest to underspecify. I'd invest more time upfront defining not just which typefaces to use, but exactly how — sizing minimums, hierarchy rules, what happens at small sizes on screen versus large format in print, and explicit guidance for edge cases. The more specific the rules, the less room for interpretation — and the more consistent the output.
VERSION CONTROL FROM DAY ONE
The Brand Book has been updated since its original publication, which is exactly what a living brand system should do. But I'd now build that expectation in from the start — dated editions, a changelog, and a defined process for how updates get approved and communicated company-wide. As an organization grows and more people work from the system, version control stops being a nice-to-have and becomes essential.