Alation Brand Design

Alation is a collaborative data catalog, a platform used by data analysts, data stewards, and business users to empower data-driven decisions. Customers such as eBay, Salesforce, and LinkedIn rely on the product to find, understand, trust, and use the data that already exists to streamline the process of collaboration.

Challenge

How can we create fresh graphics across multiple mediums and systems while maintaining the Alation brand?

Context

As a mid-sized, rapidly-growing startup at the top of its category, Alation’s brand works towards upholding a refined, unified appearance while reflecting the friendliness of a product designed for collaboration.

The details

My roles

Create graphics to support marketing, training, and overall brand
Communicate with marketing to clarify deliverables, share work, and receive feedback

Project team members | just me!

Mentor | Bryan Lee

Goals

Create a milestone timeline for Alation training modules
Create a “best practices” badge for Alation training modules
Create a map of Alation conference rooms and points of interest for onboarding
Create a shirt design for the marketing team’s “WorldTour” of data conferences

Milestone timeline

Requirements:

Four milestones
Visual cue to identify current step
Keep it simple – needs to be redone in powerpoint

I shared my first iterations with the design team, then worked off of their feedback to refine my design.

Feedback

Some look very traditional, powerpoint-style
The arrow is a bit cheesy
Need active state to more clearly identify current step
Need to show completed step

I then designed the final version which was then adapted for Powerpoint.

Using the brand’s primary and secondary oranges, I created a system to clearly identify: 1) the current step, 2) completed steps, and 3) remaining steps. The single bar, marker circles, and gradient transition reflected a simple, yet refined graphic. My work on this training module graphic turned out to be relevant when I built out the Offline Usage Data Uploader, where I was able to utilize the same system and carry out brand-product consistency.

Best Practices Badge

Requirements

White background
Look modern, friendly while being mindful of corporate audience

These were the first drafts I showed to the design team. I actually loved the energy of many of them.

Feedback

Try the bowtie instead of checkmark?
Try different containers for the best practice banner
Make it more refined, a little less playful

After working on various iterations, I struck the right balance of friendly and refined. Working with less abstract shapes, using the brand’s color palette more strategically, and being a little more mindful of the type treatment did the job.

Facilities Map

Requirements

Highlight Alation suites
Detract attention from irrelevant areas
Show where points of interest are, especially conference rooms

The original floor plan I received as reference is shown to the right

I simplified the floor plan by removing extraneous details while still representing as much information as any Alation employee needs to know about the Redwood City headquarters. A simple key highlights relevant conference rooms, points of interest like the lunch area and bathroom, and elements like doors and hallways. To maximize the space on the page, I rotated and distorted the map such that it reflected how employees thought about the floor’s layout psychologically as well.

MLDC Shirt Design

Requirements

Parody AC/DC branding
Achieve concert t-shirt vibe
Include all conference names, dates, and locations

Events that the marketing team attends often push the boundaries of the more corporate Alation brand. However, it was important to allow for this playful approach while still maintaining Alation’s integrity. I made shirt to keep the Alation logo apart from the edgier concert tee design, placing the logo lockup on the sleeve rather than with the rest of the main content. Going for that concert vibe pushed me to use center align – something I would otherwise almost never do.

The marketing team loved them!

Wrap up

While my main role as an intern at Alation was to design for the product, I often offered my assistance to Bryan Lee, the Brand Designer at the company. It provided me with a nice break from the product so I could focus on more visual design. As these brand graphics required me to communicate my work to those on other teams, I learned to better convey the ideas I thought were strongest. Bryan guided me through this, helping me learn how to best present my work and defend my expertise.