Project Overview
Following an international pitch JetBrains chose Pajama to help transform them from an invisible company with well-loved products to a category challenging brand with products adored by developers and valued by CTOs.
Project Commissioner
JetBrains
Project Creator
Pajama Ltd
Team
Paul Vinogradoff - Principal
Keshen Teo - Creative Director
Silvano d'Orazio - Senior Designer
David N Davies - Designer
Julien Milliès - Digital Designer
David Holly - Digital Strategist
David Linsley - Brand Consultant
Ben Nickless Wright - Junior Consultant
Project Brief
JetBrains makes the software that developers use ... to make software! But as most devs are mono-computerlingual many customers hardly knew that there was a company behind their trusted tool. This low profile was limiting JetBrains' ability to upsell and access higher level decision makers.
Our task was to reverse the brand hierarchy, putting the company name in the spotlight so that no product user or buyer could continue to imagine the tool they were using was itself a company. This would also provide a stronger platform for reaching corporate buyers, responsible for multiple licences and seeking a complete range of interoperable tools and process management conduits.
Project Innovation/Need
Apart from the brand architecture issue, there was also a need to look credible and different in a sector mostly inhabited by rather dry, predictable brands. As a tool maker, function is at a premium, image is of little concern.
We built the JetBrains identity on a different way of thinking about what the company does. Since JetBrains people are exactly the same kind of workers as those who use the company's products, we asked - what do they have in common? And we came up with a theoretical (but quite possibly real) human drive to write code. It's an intense occupation that offers incredible satisfactions when things are going well and devs are 'in the zone.' For most, it's 'not just a job' it's the most exciting thing they do.
We called this 'the drive to develop.' It's the leading idea for the brand. And, after explaining and exploring it with them, we found it was rich enough to give us everything else, in embryo.
Design Challenge
The first challenge was to replace the original company logo which JetBrains had made themselves. We solved this by basing the new system on a classic 'Pong' type cursor (actually a command-line prompt), which was _less_ corporate than the original or than any competitor and drew on what they share with their customers.
The next challenge was to retain a sense of individuality and relatedness for products and product groups while keying everything to a company level brand system that would help users and customers understand JetBrains as a whole without having to work at it.
The sector norm for brand is extremely dry and cliched, although related areas such as computer games makers escape this matrix. This was our final challenge: to convince our clients that the would-be suits won't inherit the earth. Clearly we managed that.
Effectiveness
The JetBrains website is over 95% of its visibility as a business. Other applications are splash screens for products, banners and screens for events like trade fairs and coding boot camps.
The rebrand process itself energised the whole company. The new look and feel inspired huge pride and a sense of unity across the many separate product teams.
This meant accelerating customer acquisition even before our work was implemented. Eventually they doubled the customer base in one year, from 1M to 2M.
When it came to the website, we proposed improvements in UX in response to their stated commercial objectives. Once these were implemented the desired impacts on revenue growth, endorsement and cross-selling were strongly reflected in the financial performance of the site.
2016 London Design Awards
Graphic Design - Identity and Branding
This award celebrates creative and innovative design in the traditional or digital visual representation of ideas and messages. Consideration given to clarity of communication and the matching information style to audience.
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