Breakit is already well established as a respected source for engaging and relevant content, but its design and branding hadn’t been updated since its launch. While the original brand had distinct characteristics like its bold coral red, there was no overarching brand narrative or cohesive design system to give coherence to Breakit’s ever-expanding number of platforms.

Breakit’s strength was summarised in a tagline: “First with the latest for leading changemakers”, that underpinned all brand work. The wording is structured to clarify Breakit’s status as the leading publication for thought leaders and change makers working in the global tech and startup sector, and to convey the immediacy of the publication’s breaking news.

The design system is based on an arrow motif that informs all design, layout and typographic decisions across the brand. Abstract tessellating arrows make up the design lockoffs for social media assets while a variety of different arrow designs are present in various forms across article pages. Typographically, this led to the use of italic and reversed italic typefaces that, when combined, give the appearance of a forward-moving arrow.