Okta
Founded in 2009, Okta has become a leader in identity authentication and access management by offering a flexible platform that integrates with any technology. In collaboration with the internal brand team, we developed an evolved brand identity system that emphasizes agency over your own virtual dentity, visualizing the effortless empowerment Okta helps users achieve. The new brand, launched at the 2022 Oktane conference, positioning Okta to lead and own the identity management category they helped create.
Services: Brand Campaign, Art Direction, Branded Content
Credits
Client: Okta
Agency: Athletics + Okta Internal Brand Team
CCO: Malcolm Buick
CD: Daniel Irizarry
DD: Brandon Stammen
Design: Ana Realmuto, Sebastián Páez Delvasto
Strategy: Katherine Lee, Liam Powell
CM: Kathryn Farwell, Moyna Ghosh
3D: Colors and The Kids
A radiant, human story.
When we’re most ourselves, when we’re in control of our identity, we’re radiant. Energy springs out from our core. We’re free, in the moment, in sync. Our complexity — all of the vibrant layers that make us who we are — come together to form a single, human whole. This is the story we wanted to tell, and that we would breathe life into as a collaborative team.
Wordmark
Building on a strong foundation, we streamlined the Okta wordmark with several key refinements. Along with a decrease in weight, the refreshed mark features sharper edges, a firm base for the “t”, updated “k”, and general increase in clarity. An iteration that maintains the charm and personality of the original, while adding poise befitting of a category trailblazer. For further micro-refinements on the wordmark, we partnered with Dalton Maag.
Aura
Building on the language of the wordmark, we refreshed the Okta brand symbol as well — the Aura, a centerpiece, or hinge around which the whole identity system can revolve. It is at once a celebration of the many layers of identity and an illustration of their coherence into a single vibrant point.
Activating the Aura
Okta’s new brand symbol is as eye-catching in motion as it is at rest. The Aura can be activated at multiple scales: the individual spokes, or “facets,” in the symbol can be depicted as images, making for a vibrant, layered effect when animated. Alternatively, the symbol can be used as an icon across various touchpoints of user experience.
People
Warm, casual portraiture and candids — of people at their most inhabited and human —are a key tool for our brand system. This approach sets the tone for representation in the category, and helps the Okta brand stand out in the broader tech space all the more.
Voice
Our refreshed Okta voice channels the visionary, vibrant, clever spirit not only of Okta’s strategic foundation, but of its founding team as well. It’s equal parts prophetic and approachable, like an inventor who sees a possible future and lays a practical plan to get there. In addition to an evolved voice guide, we retouched core elements of brand messaging and provided a suite of headlines to demonstrate the new voice in practice.
Graphic System
The entirety of our graphic system builds around the aura, which becomes a vehicle for a broad range of content and storytelling. More than just a dynamic symbol, the Aura can be used graphically as an elegant logomark in various static applications. Moreover, stills of the symbol in motion can be abstracted and used as building blocks for a range of digital & print compositions.
Fluid Transitions
The Aura’s fluid, frictionless nature when animated dramatizes the process of seamless verification quite naturally. Its elegance and ease inspire trust whenever applied to a brand experience.
Elements in Motion
Via the Aura and beyond, 3D and motion are an integral part of the new Okta identity. The overall effect is one of kinetic vibrance, of actualized potential, of human dreams made real.
Motion Toolkit
We developed a rich motion toolkit to allow Okta to create a variety of content on a range of platforms. Using the Aura as a vehicle for content and communication.
Graphics
We developed a series of abstract graphics that leverage gradations and layering to allude to layered radiance. They can be leveraged for editorial and report purposes.
Aura Graphics
Our first pressure test of the graphic system came in the run up to Oktane ‘22, Okta’s conference on the state of all things identity. For the event, we were tasked with developing a suite of large-format print & digital graphics, which would abstract details of the Aura symbol to create a general impression that is as ethereal as it is bold. To create this artwork, we partnered with Colors and the Kids.
“This week at Oktane22, our annual conference, we announced our brand purpose: to build a world where Identity belongs to you. It’s a bold goal, an expansion of what Okta does and why we do it. And today we’re unveiling a bold evolution of the Okta brand to match.”
Oktane ‘22
Like the whole of our rebrand process, ideation & iteration for the Oktane creative was a deeply collaborative effort. The heavily-attended event — which featured celebrity guest speakers like Serena Williams and Magic Johnson — became a key milestone in the rebrand rollout.
