Design to level up

Keen Design is a UX design agency with headquarters in the Netherlands. They are a B2B organisation providing their clients with experts to take their in-house UX and service design work to the next level. Focusing on creating digital products that bring true value to their customers, they are proud to count their people to the best in the business. After experiencing continuous growth over the past years with new offices in Germany and Switzerland, and ambitious plans to grow into a truly global company, they established multiple business units each specialising in one of their clients’ sectors; namely Health, Public, Software and Financials. The Keen Design brand had grown organically with the company but couldn’t accommodate the new business structure. In close collaboration with the Keen team we systematically re-invented it from the ground up with focus on brand recognition and a future-proof approach.

Client:
Keen Design
Year:
2022
Industry:
UX Design
Scope:
Visual Identity
Website Design
Collateral materials
Animation
Art Direction

Design to level up

Keen Design is a UX design agency with headquarters in the Netherlands. They are a B2B organisation providing their clients with experts to take their in-house UX and service design work to the next level. Focusing on creating digital products that bring true value to their customers, they are proud to count their people to the best in the business. After experiencing continuous growth over the past years with new offices in Germany and Switzerland, and ambitious plans to grow into a truly global company, they established multiple business units each specialising in one of their clients’ sectors; namely Health, Public, Software and Financials. The Keen Design brand had grown organically with the company but couldn’t accommodate the new business structure. In close collaboration with the Keen team we systematically re-invented it from the ground up with focus on brand recognition and a future-proof approach.

Client:
Keen Design
Year:
2022
Industry:
UX Design
Scope:
Visual Identity
Website Design
Collateral Materials
Animation
Art Direction

Core elements

Keen’s services are abstract and difficult to illustrate with photography. We therefore created a flexible graphic element that communicates their offerings in a strongly recognisable and active way. A color palette based on neutrals and warm vibrant colors captures the unique combination of intelligence and creative energy of the Keen organisation. The brand system is completed by black and white photography that highlights their people as the company’s USP.

Introducing colour moods

Creating a strong and impactful brand that is recognisable throughout all business units while still giving each unit it’s own flavour was one of the main challenges in this project. Our solution was to create distinct color moods which are derived from the main Keen color palette but weigh tones differently to give each unit a distinct look and feel while still being clearly connected to the main brand. This concept particularly comes to life in the different websites created for each business unit.

Impactful simplicity

Complex matters don’t need to look it on the outside. The clear definition of Keen’s brand system allows the team to deploy it across all media with maximum impact while using different levels of communication.

"Today were able to process what was a rather complex brief into a clear brand. They are fluent in collaborating with other experts, in other fields, to get to the perfect results. Looking at the people in our organisation, the appreciation for the new brand is very high as well. The result has helped us level ourselves up as a company. This is the first time that we have been able to use our brand to communicate who we are on the inside. That connection between our identity and the visualization of it is really powerful. In terms of business, our new brand is helping us to underline our strengths and differentiate us from our competitors. The field that we are in is not just very competitive, it’s also not very transparent. Differentiation is the key to take the position that we are looking for."

Iwan Cuijpers, Owner & CEO, Keen Design

"Today were able to process what was a rather complex brief into a clear brand. They are fluent in collaborating with other experts, in other fields, to get to the perfect results. Looking at the people in our organisation, the appreciation for the new brand is very high as well. The result has helped us level ourselves up as a company. This is the first time that we have been able to use our brand to communicate who we are on the inside. That connection between our identity and the visualization of it is really powerful. In terms of business, our new brand is helping us to underline our strengths and differentiate us from our competitors. The field that we are in is not just very competitive, it’s also not very transparent. Differentiation is the key to take the position that we are looking for."

Iwan Cuijpers, Owner & CEO, Keen Design

The Keen re-brand has been one of our favourite projects this year not only due to the amazingly nice, passionate and knowledgeable team we got to work with, but also because of the clear cut and impactful result we achieved together. You only know whether a brand system truly works if a client’s team can apply it intuitively to their materials, and we are excited to see Keen’s marketeers doing a great job in rolling out the new brand across channels. In the Keen team we have found a fantastic and valuable playing partner and we look forward to keep activating their new brand with them as their organisation evolves and moves into new markets.

Website UX: Keen Design

Copywriting: Jill Whittaker

Photography: Joni Israeli

Code: Tejas Thakker

The Keen re-brand has been one of our favourite projects this year not only due to the amazingly nice, passionate and knowledgeable team we got to work with, but also because of the clear cut and impactful result we achieved together. You only know whether a brand system truly works if a client’s team can apply it intuitively to their materials, and we are excited to see Keen’s marketeers doing a great job in rolling out the new brand across channels. In the Keen team we have found a fantastic and valuable playing partner and we look forward to keep activating their new brand with them as their organisation evolves and moves into new markets.

Website UX: Keen Design

Copywriting: Jill Whittaker

Photography: Joni Israeli

Code: Tejas Thakker