At Instrument, I started working with Twitter in 2019, when their new brand identity (created by Irradié) was still in conceptual development and focused on out of home marketing concepts. We partnered with Twitter’s brand and digital team, to experiment with how this new brand could not only come to life on the internet, but how we could update and add on to Twitter’s existing design system. Over two years, I helped lead the design effort, create and document new components, and help art direct and produce assets to launch this puppy into the world.
💀 2023 Update: RIP TWITTER 💀
An integrated process from start to finish
The end result feels simple, straightforward, and consistent – but getting there was a beautiful balance of collaborative chaos and extensive design iterations and pressure testing. From initial discovery and presenting how we strategically position and evolve about.twitter.com to visual concepting and building AEM components –
Instrument embraces an integrated team model, internally & externally. Design works closely with strategy to craft messaging frameworks and an updated IA, then partnering with Twitter’s brand studio and digital design system team to produce new components and foundational styles that meet the standards of their greater digital design system, and finally working closely with our developers with thorough technical documentation, motion studies, and VQA.
In the end, our task was far larger than just redesigning about.twitter.com, but to create a proper digital system for ease of use across dozens of properties by countless authors around the world.
Creating a system that can tell stories
Our task went beyond just evolving a brand to work across digital platforms, but we needed to create Tweet components that not only put the new marketing brand on display, but showcase conversations in manner that is highly functional, flexible, and accessible. Queue the world’s largest and most detailed documentation files you’ve ever met.
Clients R Friends
It’s important to note, that a majority of this work was done during a global pandemic, an intense election, cultural unrest, and surrounded by natural disasters — which led us to leaning on and making intentional space each other. So while, yes, we were all figuring out how to collaborate from our separate houses, this is one project where I never felt alone in any of it. I couldn’t have asked for a better client or internal team <3
