We partnered with Red Antler, the leading brand company for startups and new ventures, to build the Playbook brand. The agency known for its work with brands like Casper, Allbirds, and Prose, tackled brand strategy, brand identity and brand messaging. To streamline their process, the Red Antler design team utilized Playbook and discovered the benefit of a simple creative center to organize files and showcase brand guidelines.
Interview with Miriam Kaplan, Brand Design Lead at Red Antler.
What are some of the challenges you face in organizing design files for a project? How did Playbook help solve some of those challenges?
In the process of designing and iterating within our internal team, ensuring visibility of the most updated versions of files is important. We found that in using Playbook, we could update assets and keep everything organized for the entire team. There are a few features that enhance collaboration. For example, we did several rounds of edits to the symbol hand gestures. Every time there was an update, the team was able to see not only the latest designs, but also view the evolution for easy comparison.
One of the most interesting parts of using Playbook was for the asset handoff to the Playbook team. We worked hard to create a brand that brings to life their offering, so we didn’t want the assets we created to get lost in the transition. Typically, we’re sending clients a PDF of guidelines with links to download zipped assets. With Playbook, we were able to organize assets in sections all within the platform itself. We were also able to include multiple file types, including the brand guidelines and instructions for context, ensuring that the handoff was as smooth as possible.
What was it like working with the Playbook team as they were building the tool?
With a design background themselves, the Playbook team was collaborative from the start. As we were building the brand, they were rolling out new features to the beta version of the product, so we were able to suggest product ideas in real-time that made our work even better.
To help create a seamless user-experience for Playbook’s brand guidelines, we suggested creating a subfolder feature in the left hand navigation. This allowed us to break down all the guideline sections in an easily understandable way — from the identity, to the graphics section, and even something as simple as separating core colors from secondary colors.
We also loved the introduction of Playbook’s color chip display feature. Now not only are brand colors on display, but they also act as a useful design tool since we can easily pick up the color codes.