Vonage on path to become world’s most flexible communications platform with new human-centered design
Vonage, a provider of residential telecommunications services based in New Jersey, is working closely with Wolff Olins to create a unified identity that brought together the best of the brand’s heritage with the innovation it is known for today. By building on their purpose of leading through change, the agency created a visual language that could flex across the tech space and into the hearts and minds of developers.
Approaching everything through a system of extrusion, the new brand shows how Vonage can be there when you need it, and fade away when you do not. Rich gradients challenge the more static colorspace of the industry, and the illustration style and verbal identity brings to life the quirk and irreverence that made Vonage memorable in the past. All of it works together to create an experience that is as delightful as it is helpful.
Vonage is a well-known brand with a proven legacy. Loved for its offbeat tone that permeated the telecom space in the early 2000s, Vonage made a name on its ability to reinvent the way people communicate using technology. But with the decline of the residential home phone market, it has dared to rethink the future of its business. Never one to sit still, it has evolved through a series of mergers and acquisitions that have allowed it to move into software as a service and from residential customers to businesses – a seismic shift that has required an equally powerful brand evolution, developed in partnership with global branding agency Wolff Olins.
“At Wolff Olins, we strongly believe that we are designing first and foremost for people, even when designing for B2B or B2C,” explained Jan Eumann, Creative Director at Wolff Olins. “These audiences bring their personal selves to work, with visual patterns and product experiences they have learned from brands and apps used daily in their private lives.
“When we started to talk with Vonage, we found a shared understanding that there is no point in creating ‘corporate’ or sterile looking brands for environments in which businesses operate.
“This foundation set us up to push the boundaries for the work and set the ambition differently. We wanted to establish a conversational tone of voice, bold use of photography and illustration and drive everything from a system of graphic devices that highlights how Vonage is the secret superpower underneath the surface.”
As a result of the collaboration, the new identity system successfully unifies eight separate business units under one signature vision. Beyond the new branding, Wolff Olins also crafted a new mission statement, brand behaviors and an approach to product and portfolio naming that will be the foundation for future communications and experiences to come.
“As Vonage completed its transformation into a true B2B SaaS company built on the most flexible cloud communications platform in the market, we knew that the way we presented, thought about and lived our brand day to day needed to shift as well,” commented Vonage CMO Rishi Dave. “We are proud to unveil our new look, messaging and integrated products under one brand as we continue to drive the changes in the communications industry.”
