BT REBRAND
CLIENT
BT
ROLES
CREATIVE DESIGNER, BRAND MANAGER
When BT rebranded, the whole process was done at pace. The new ID was developed and rolled out across the company in 3 months. As part of the brand team, I was involved from the initial briefing to executing the ID for launch.
Key assets were created including a new typeface, colour palette and a hero asset called 'the Portal'. These were supported by illustrations, icons, photography, and motion guidelines. Our team worked collaboratively with our branding agency Zag, to help shape and define those guidelines and principles. I was the brand lead for the typeface, colour and icons.
Typeface
As part of the rebrand BT needed a typeface that was ownable, robust and dynamic. I was the brand lead in the team. Helping to shape the brief and develop the font with Dalton Maag, the font foundry.
Taking inspiration from the new BT ID, the typeface was created and refined. We worked through each individual character, defining elements such as bowls, counters, tails, spines, terminals and strokes.
Checking in with the wider team and business allowed us to make sure the typeface was usable, accessible and legible while still feeling part of the BT brand.
The final typeface has three weights and two widths in roman and oblique. Supporting both Latin and Cyrillic characters.
Colour
Once BT’s core brand colours had been decided across print and digital, I worked on expanding the palette to make sure it worked in a digital space. This helped to bring consistent colours for interactive states and options for light and dark pathways.
BT core colours
These colours needed to be systematised for our design systems, but they also needed to be useful for the long tail of digital products that BT has.
A 10 step colour system was decided on, which gave teams a good amount of flexibility without an un-manageable colour palette. I worked collaboratively with Business and Consumer, making sure the colours worked for them.
Between us, the colours were stress-tested and refined until we had colours that both reflected the brand, but also allowed BT to create accessible and usable digital products.
Expanded colour palette
Iconography
The previous BT icons had grown inconsistent over time. They also didn’t account for interactivity or active states. The rebrand gave our team a chance to re-address not only the look of the icons, but how they were used.
We developed the icons so that they looked well balanced with our typeface, as most of the time they would be sat next to it. We also included alternative versions so icons could show a hover or selected state.
We started with a small suite of 10 icons to develop the style and created guidance based on those 10 icons. There was a lot of development and refinement, before we landed on a style that worked with the wider brand ID.
