Creating stability in a fluid world
Anchore and New Kind build a brand around a new solution for container-based application development
Background
The Anchore team wanted to create a company that would reshape container-based application development. So they partnered with New Kind to hone their brand story, strategy, and visual identity prior to their public launch. Several members of the Anchore team had also worked with New Kind on their previous tech company, Ansible.
Containers are the next chapter in data center technology. They allow developers to quickly test and deliver applications. Flexibility, speed, portability, and fluid infrastructure—this combination is making containers the future standard of application development. The problem with containers is that up until now, they’ve been difficult to maintain and protect.
Anchore’s toolset makes container development and deployment secure from the very beginning of the application development process. The Anchore team wanted to come out of the gates with a strong story and powerful visual identity that brought their strategy to life.
Industries: Technology
Services: Identity System, Positioning, Research, Storytelling, Web Design
Why New Kind?
We love what New Kind did for us at Ansible and love it even more now with Anchore. The New Kind team has been exceptional. Project planning and delivery was great. The creativity that has gone into building the branding and messaging far surpassed mine and my team’s expectations.
Saïd Ziouani
CEO and Co-Founder, Anchore
Choosing pathways
The Anchore story
We used what we found in our research to build the positioning platform for Anchore. We quickly realized keeping containers safe is about more than just security. We realized we needed to broaden the Anchore story to be about container environments.
Then we worked with the Anchore team to hone in on what makes their brand different. We uncovered three principles: transparency, predictability, simplicity.
Transparency because Anchore provides continuous provenance and security from the first line of code. A transparent environment is a trusted and secure environment.
Predictability because Anchore gives users the ability to certify their own containers, empowering them to establish a trusted standard.
Simplicity because whether your focus is development, production, or security, Anchore is accessible to everyone in the application development process. Powerful for when you need it—but never gets in the way.
All of which lead to one high-level message:
Bringing the brand to life
Visual identity
How could we take the idea of “Stability in a Fluid World” and embody it throughout the brand’s visual identity?
To start, we explored modular typefaces, which are built around a common shape that repeats itself throughout the letterforms. We discovered the typeface Core Mellow and felt its hybrid characteristic of strict rules of modularity paired with rounded edges helped exemplify the concepts of both stability and fluidity.
To further emphasize the “fluid world” aspect of our high-level brand message, our design team modified key letters along the bottom to simulate the motion of a wave and opened up the shape of each character.
We also developed a shorthand mark based on the “a” of Anchore and adjusted the letter to embody the concept of the full logo. It serves both as a way to express the brand as a quick, recognizable symbol and to act as a certified stamp of approval.
Website design
The creation of a website provided Anchore with a platform to share their story before the launch of an official proudct. The website also serves as a central location where people can sign up for updates and the beta and as a recruitment tool for prospective employees.
To visually represent the Anchore brand on the website, we created a pattern that appears to be in constant motion, overlaid on top of images that have exude the idea of water—a fluid world where Anchore serves as the stability.
Content and marketing strategy
We consulted with Anchore on white papers and blog posts prior to launch to make sure they were on message and on brand. New Kind also helped create a social media strategy toolkit, providing the Anchore team with the inspiration to operate the brand’s social channels.
We even redesigned Anchore investor presentations to include the new visual identity and messaging.
Messaging guide
We worked with the Anchore team to tell the story as succinctly as possible. From the elevator pitch to formal presentations, we wanted the Anchore team to have the tools they needed to continue to tell the brand story in a variety of situations.
The road ahead
The Anchore team and New Kind continued to work together after the successful brand launch to maintain a strong presence for the emerging tech brand. New Kind assisted with ongoing site updates, as well as social media and content strategy.
The brand gave Anchore what they needed to demonstrate the power of their offering. They secured seed funding shortly after, and raised their Series A in 2020. Anchore has since worked with clients including Nvidia, VMware, Red Hat, and (appropriately for a brand built on nautical metaphors) the U.S. Navy.
We’re honored to have been there at the very beginning.