CID
Client
CID
Type
Branding, Illustration, advertising, web design
Tools
Figma, Illustrator, Photoshop, Chat GPT, Gemini
Website
For once, I felt like I was in one of those rustic diners where the regulars come back week after week. CID is a company that creates bespoke software for clients across various sectors, from financial services to retail e-commerce. A few years ago, I helped them build their very first brand, but after years of loyal service and strong business growth, things had changed. When it was time to create a new visual identity that truly represented them, they asked for my help once again.
Honey, I shrunk the company.
When I created the original brand, CID offered their core service (bespoke software development) alongside a second product called Affinity: a piece of software capable of analyzing millions of pages of messy web text, news, and data, turning them into clear insights to help asset managers make better investment decisions. Affinity, alas, didn't achieve the success they hoped for, so CID decided to focus entirely on software development and relaunch with a fresh new look.
(Psst—if you want to know more about the original brand story, you can find the case study here).
The metal slide.
CID’s office is in Freigericht, a town in southwestern Germany. It’s nestled in nature, surrounded by beech and oak forests. It was precisely this setting that inspired the new brand. During my visit, I noticed how incredible an inspiration that environment is for the company’s talented software developers. People who work at CID do so because they feel valued and appreciated. Believe it or not, right in the middle of the office, they’ve installed a giant slide. Alexander, the CEO, wanted to create a workspace that isn't just welcoming, but genuinely fun. Who wouldn't want to commute from one floor to the next via a massive slide?
Piece by piece.
First off, I worked on the new colour palette, carefully selecting tones inspired by the office and its surroundings: forest greens, the reds and browns of the interior, and the blue of the building's metal structure. I deliberately chose warm colours to highlight CID’s more human side, pairing the palette with a typeface that has deep ties to the brand: Pangea, designed by a German typographer whose proceeds contribute to woodland sustainability projects.
I explored several image treatments, but none felt quite right until I tried collage. I immediately realized this approach not only positioned CID as a dynamic, people-first company, but actively involved the team by featuring their actual notes, sketches, and ideas right inside the imagery.
But does it work?
Pulling together the brand guidelines helped me nail down the final important details. In my opinion, this kind of exercise is brilliant for testing a brand's robustness: if the guidelines are clear, concise, and flexible, you know you're on the right track.
A website that (almost) builds itself.
After days spent crafting the new brand and explaining how to use it, it was finally time to put it to the test... how? By building the website!
Together with the copywriting team, we defined the new site structure starting from the solid foundations of the previous one. I then worked on sitemaps, wireframes, and finally the actual design. And I didn't stop there! The dev team and I developed a Figma design system capable of automatically generating mobile layouts, making it dead simple to export and integrate into the CMS. Not half bad!
A quick commercial break.
And we didn't stop there either. After the site, I rolled straight into marketing collateral. One of these was a practical guide on using data and AI to automate processes, improve decision-making, and drive business growth. We also created LinkedIn ads to promote the guide, alongside other ads dedicated to industry-specific services.
Results
At the end of the day, how was this re-rebrand received? I’ll let the client speak for themselves:
"I am receiving very positive feedback and the whole CID team is truly excited. The design, the content, the functionality are all on a completely new level now. This positions CID as a serious, powerful player in our target markets."
And the structural soundness of CID’s design is also reflected in the data gathered by Page Speed Insights: we tested performance and hit a 95/100 on desktop—proof that fresh aesthetics and performance can happily live together!
