Leap brand evolution
Leap is a platform that helps online brands create immersive, IRL shopping experiences. And while they started as a B2B marketplace to scale businesses like Sunday Citizen, Something Navy, Third Love, Lunya, and more, they wanted to bring the “wow” factor to shoppers.
The goal: evolve Leap’s existing B2B brand from a visual and verbal standpoint to develop brand awareness and invite shoppers into their world as curator of incredible modern brands in beloved neighborhoods.
Brand Persona
The local maven
Tone
Trustworthy, helpful, confident, effortless
Essence
There’s no substitute for shopping IRL.
Purpose
Bring your favorite brands to life with stores in neighborhoods you love.
Tagline
Your guide for shopping IRL.
Call to Action
Find your perfect fit, right around the corner.
Manifesto
We believe the best shopping trips can be as easy as they are empowering. That neighborhoods are worth celebrating. That stepping into a stunning, pressure-free store can be a welcome escape from the daily grind.
Sometimes, all it takes is one step out of your comfort zone. One stride into the real world. One small leap of faith to discover something unexpected that feels uniquely *you*.
Whether it’s communities you already love or breakthrough brands you haven’t found yet, we believe that every shopping trip and store holds the opportunity to feel the thrill of the find.
That’s why Leap is committed to curating brands and creating experiences that help you discover the perfect fit, right around the corner.
First up: wordmark and color palette.
The new, shopper-facing Leap logo had to play well with over 100 partner brand logos, while still standing out in a sea of sans-serif sameness. So I first evolved the existing Leap logo, squaring off the original wordmark’s rounded edges and leveling the letterform baseline for a more balanced appearance and stronger foundation.
The B2C Leap color palette is a modified, narrower version of the B2B color palette for more simplicity and refinement across execution.
Finding inspiration…
Using the arc from L to A in the Leap logo and strong lines of store fixtures as inspiration, the B2C visual story includes four geometric shapes: arch, circle, square, and rectangle. The intention of these shapes has multiple uses: to act as a container for photography, to be used as graphic elements in design, as badge callouts, and as an illustrated element that can be used as customizable patterns across deliverables.
Map gridlines from the Leap B2B brand system take on new life in the B2C context. Gridlines are to be used as background, textural elements that reinforce Leap’s commitment to local, real-world experiences.
How it came to life
From in-store signage and flyers to marketing audits and digital directories, the Leap brand system supported virtually unlimited ways for the brand to connect with shoppers in local stores.