Kritika is a business-to-business app aimed at managers looking for an easy way to control code quality and monitor employees. League Design Agency added humanity to give Kritika character and a distinct identity.
Main task
Our task was to develop a visual identity for “Kritika” which is software that helps users find mistakes and vulnerabilities in the code written by a software development team.
Research
During the client briefing, we outlined the mission of Kritika, its competitive advantages, and its core customers. The service was developed for CTOs in large companies who want to control the quality of their product but are unable to monitor every single employee.
Kritika does this job for them in a reliable and automatic way. Users who apply Kritika in their work can be assured that everything is under control. Customers will no longer feel that they are not alone, knowing there is something standing against coding mistakes.
Comparing Kritika’s competitors, we realized that the majority of similar apps share similar looks. They all appear way too “digital” and cold, seemingly soulless. That’s why we decided to emphasize the emotion of using the product with the help of craft stylistics.
Concept
Metaphor: Personal Assistant
As we were looking for a visual identity, we decided to create a virtual character and animate the product in this way. Kritika is metaphorically represented as a competent “personal assistant”. She knows the topic very well, has her own opinion, and shows creativity. She is learning all the time by studying new languages and has the same goal as the user, to improve the quality of the product. That’s why her criticism is constructive and friendly. Kritika spots minute imperfections and gives useful advice.
Solution
The logo is based on a monospaced font that calls to two different applications. On the one hand, this sort of font is seen in code editors, a direct tie-in to Kritika’s application. On the other hand, this is the font of typewriters, symbolic of critics and personal assistants. Together it expresses the metaphoric character in a wonderful way.
The visual image of Kritika is also expressed with the use of craft illustrations, which shows the way Kritika works and emphasizes its features. To check and correct the code, a pair of eyes and hands are all that’s required, so they appear on the illustrations.
We also chose corporate colors that are closer to the real world and are not typical of a digital product, such as natural carrot-like orange and olive colors, deep graphite, and Swiss white, the color of paper.
Details
The visual concept is reinforced with common corporate sights. For example, we intentionally made mistakes in the headlines and underlined them with a squiggly, red line, similar to how code editors mark errors. Placed under the slogan, the logo resembles a popup message. All the microcopy addresses the user from the first person singular in order to create a feeling of dialogue.
Conclusion
The metaphor of a “personal assistant” helped us add character to the service, also supported by illustrations and copy, creating a scalable corporate identity that stands out among the competition while being memorable.
Credits
Art Direction: Aleksandr Gusakov
Graphic Design: Julia Zamiatina
Illustrations: Myroslava Shevchenko
Photography: Akim Karpach
At League Design Agency, we strive to understand the needs of our customers and solve their business problems with the help of design tools.