Looker Data Science was built on a proprietary SQL-based, cloud-native SAAS. It was powerful stuff, but it was hard to explain. I knew that if we wanted people to pay attention, we needed to find a way to make it more relatable.
I joined Looker Data Science as a senior designer in late 2018, when they were a fast-growing startup poised to become a global leader in data technology. My role was to help them refresh and deepen their brand identity ahead of their IPO in 2020. The goal seemed simple: mature the brand with enterprise-scale authority, while still retaining their Santa Cruz culture and roots. I had my work cut out , but I was up for the challenge.
My decision was easy, make people the focus, not the technology. Looker was helping businesses make better decisions, save money, and grow, so the customer marketing team brought out these amazing stories, highlighting real-world customers and the impact Looker had on their businesses.
The creative director and I created a brand that was both performance-oriented and emotionally connected to the potential of Looker. Using graphic illustrations, photography, a conversational voice, and a distinctive color palette, we told the story of Looker's power in a way that was easy to understand.
All the brand redesign momentum culminated in a successful out-of-home and display campaign that resulted in the highest volume traffic to the Looker website to date with 7.2M impressions served. Our efforts paid off. Looker quickly became one of the most talked-about data analytics companies in the world and became a challenger in the Gartner MQ (if that means anything to you).
Visually, I made the visual identity more iconic and relevant to the data modernization world, while still retaining its unique personality. It was important to develop a highly scalable and enterprise-ready system.
I'm proud of the work I contributed to at Looker. We helped to make data analytics more accessible to everyone. And we showed the world that a tiny startup in Santa Cruz could compete with the big guys. The work garnered us two Silicon Valley silver Addys.
In June 2019, Looker was acquired by Google Cloud for $2.6 billion.