Snapchat
Building creative clarity for a global icon.
Consumer Tech
Snapchat
Building creative clarity for a global icon.
Consumer Tech
Snapchat
Building creative clarity for a global icon.
Consumer Tech
After launching a global campaign in 2024, Snapchat needed to make its refreshed brand stick across teams, tools, and touchpoints. What began as a design brief quickly evolved into something larger: a full brand system built to scale creativity without compromising identity. I led the project, from design strategy through to the structure, user experience, and implementation of the system. My role blended thinking and execution, defining the framework, aligning cross-functional teams, and translating a bold brand strategy into clear, usable tools that drove cohesion and creativity.
Building Brand Infrastructure
@ High Tide:
Research & Planning
Design Strategy
Creative Guardrails
Interactive Guidelines UX
Stakeholder Alignment
After launching a global campaign in 2024, Snapchat needed to make its refreshed brand stick across teams, tools, and touchpoints. What began as a design brief quickly evolved into something larger: a full brand system built to scale creativity without compromising identity. I led the project, from design strategy through to the structure, user experience, and implementation of the system. My role blended thinking and execution, defining the framework, aligning cross-functional teams, and translating a bold brand strategy into clear, usable tools that drove cohesion and creativity.
Building Brand Infrastructure
@ High Tide:
Research & Planning
Design Strategy
Creative Guardrails
Interactive Guidelines UX
Stakeholder Alignment
After launching a global campaign in 2024, Snapchat needed to make its refreshed brand stick across teams, tools, and touchpoints. What began as a design brief quickly evolved into something larger: a full brand system built to scale creativity without compromising identity. I led the project, from design strategy through to the structure, user experience, and implementation of the system. My role blended thinking and execution, defining the framework, aligning cross-functional teams, and translating a bold brand strategy into clear, usable tools that drove cohesion and creativity.
Building Brand Infrastructure
@ High Tide:
Research & Planning
Design Strategy
Creative Guardrails
Interactive Guidelines UX
Stakeholder Alignment
The Challenge
Codifying Chaos
Snapchat had just launched a new global brand positioning, but internal creative teams were still flying blind. The brand looked and felt different in every deck, region, and rollout. They were missing a creative system that could flex across surfaces, scale across teams, and still feel unmistakably Snap.
The Challenge
Codifying Chaos
Snapchat had just launched a new global brand positioning, but internal creative teams were still flying blind. The brand looked and felt different in every deck, region, and rollout. They were missing a creative system that could flex across surfaces, scale across teams, and still feel unmistakably Snap.
The Challenge
Codifying Chaos
Snapchat had just launched a new global brand positioning, but internal creative teams were still flying blind. The brand looked and felt different in every deck, region, and rollout. They were missing a creative system that could flex across surfaces, scale across teams, and still feel unmistakably Snap.
Research
The brand had evolved but the system hadn’t.
There was no shared foundation or central toolkit. Teams were working in silos using outdated assets, improvised styles, and no motion guidance. But Snap didn’t just need consistency, they needed a system as expressive and dynamic as the brand itself.
Research
The brand had evolved but the system hadn’t.
There was no shared foundation or central toolkit. Teams were working in silos using outdated assets, improvised styles, and no motion guidance. But Snap didn’t just need consistency, they needed a system as expressive and dynamic as the brand itself.
Research
The brand had evolved but the system hadn’t.
There was no shared foundation or central toolkit. Teams were working in silos using outdated assets, improvised styles, and no motion guidance. But Snap didn’t just need consistency, they needed a system as expressive and dynamic as the brand itself.
Research
Building a system people want to use.
We talked to teams, dug into files, and observed how work actually got done: what people used, skipped, and improvised. That insight became the foundation for a system shaped by real habits, not ideal ones.
Research
Building a system people want to use.
We talked to teams, dug into files, and observed how work actually got done: what people used, skipped, and improvised. That insight became the foundation for a system shaped by real habits, not ideal ones.
Research
Building a system people want to use.
We talked to teams, dug into files, and observed how work actually got done: what people used, skipped, and improvised. That insight became the foundation for a system shaped by real habits, not ideal ones.
Snapchat doesn’t play by the rules. It’s weird, expressive, and spontaneous, and a traditional system would only get in the way. Our job wasn’t to contain Snap, but to amplify it and make it easier for others to do the same.
Snapchat doesn’t play by the rules. It’s weird, expressive, and spontaneous, and a traditional system would only get in the way. Our job wasn’t to contain Snap, but to amplify it and make it easier for others to do the same.
Snapchat doesn’t play by the rules. It’s weird, expressive, and spontaneous, and a traditional system would only get in the way. Our job wasn’t to contain Snap, but to amplify it and make it easier for others to do the same.
The Shift
Rethinking the rules of brand behavior
Most brand systems chase consistency but Snap needed something more dynamic, so we translated the strategy into flexible principles that protected the brand’s core while giving teams the freedom to play. There was just enough structure to guide the work, and enough possibility to keep it wild.
The Shift
Rethinking the rules of brand behavior
Most brand systems chase consistency but Snap needed something more dynamic, so we translated the strategy into flexible principles that protected the brand’s core while giving teams the freedom to play. There was just enough structure to guide the work, and enough possibility to keep it wild.
The Shift
Rethinking the rules of brand behavior
Most brand systems chase consistency but Snap needed something more dynamic, so we translated the strategy into flexible principles that protected the brand’s core while giving teams the freedom to play. There was just enough structure to guide the work, and enough possibility to keep it wild.
Organized Chaos
Organized Chaos
Snap has a rhythm but it’s never rigid.
Snap has a rhythm but it’s never rigid.
Portal Perspectives
Portal Perspectives
Creative should pull you in, not push you around.
Creative should pull you in, not push you around.
One More Thing
One More Thing
There’s always room to express just a little more.
There’s always room to express just a little more.
Built for scale, the interactive guidelines brought structure to every touchpoint. Designed to inspire as much as instruct, the new system made it easy for teams to start from the same place, no matter what they were making. Creative clarity was now just one click away, not buried in a deck.
Built for scale, the interactive guidelines brought structure to every touchpoint. Designed to inspire as much as instruct, the new system made it easy for teams to start from the same place, no matter what they were making. Creative clarity was now just one click away, not buried in a deck.
Built for scale, the interactive guidelines brought structure to every touchpoint. Designed to inspire as much as instruct, the new system made it easy for teams to start from the same place, no matter what they were making. Creative clarity was now just one click away, not buried in a deck.
Most brand guidelines focus on what not to do. These ones show what’s possible.
Most brand guidelines focus on what not to do. These ones show what’s possible.
Most brand guidelines focus on what not to do. These ones show what’s possible.
The brand no longer lived in a handful of designers’ heads. Snap now had a shared foundation that is expressive, practical, and built to scale. The system was rolled out across Snap’s internal teams and external agency partners globally and continues to evolve and expanded as the brand grows.
The brand no longer lived in a handful of designers’ heads. Snap now had a shared foundation that is expressive, practical, and built to scale. The system was rolled out across Snap’s internal teams and external agency partners globally and continues to evolve and expanded as the brand grows.
The brand no longer lived in a handful of designers’ heads. Snap now had a shared foundation that is expressive, practical, and built to scale. The system was rolled out across Snap’s internal teams and external agency partners globally and continues to evolve and expanded as the brand grows.
Credits
Developed by the team at High Tide in close collaboration with the Snapchat Brand & Design Team. Special thanks to Oscar Martinsson and Maggie Conway for their partnership.
Team: David Shatan-Pardo, Emma Kane, Lilia Jimenez, Matthew Smith, James Allan, Danny Miller, Kate Wille, Marc Moran, Roy Cranston and Narayani Leonardo
Credits
Developed by the team at High Tide in close collaboration with the Snapchat Brand & Design Team. Special thanks to Oscar Martinsson and Maggie Conway for their partnership.
Team: David Shatan-Pardo, Emma Kane, Lilia Jimenez, Matthew Smith, James Allan, Danny Miller, Kate Wille, Marc Moran, Roy Cranston and Narayani Leonardo
Credits
Developed by the team at High Tide in close collaboration with the Snapchat Brand & Design Team. Special thanks to Oscar Martinsson and Maggie Conway for their partnership.
Team: David Shatan-Pardo, Emma Kane, Lilia Jimenez, Matthew Smith, James Allan, Danny Miller, Kate Wille, Marc Moran, Roy Cranston and Narayani Leonardo
