WPP brand system
Brand systems, Art direction
Brand systems, Art direction
2025
2025
WPP’s visual system was designed to be flexible, but struggled to operate consistently across real use cases, especially as the company entered a broader period of change.
WPP’s visual system was designed to be flexible, but struggled to operate consistently across real use cases, especially as the company entered a broader period of change.
LIMITS OF THE SYSTEM
The identity relied on a highly saturated palette and a dominant spherical device. While effective in isolation, these elements became harder to manage across product, campaigns and internal communications.
The result was a system that appeared consistent, but lacked distinction and adaptability across contexts.
MAKING THE BRAND OPERATIONAL
The work focused on translating the brand into a system that could operate across real use cases, reducing visual complexity and introducing clearer rules for application.
The visual language shifted towards a more editorial and human approach, improving clarity across different types of content.
FROM STATIC GUIDANCE TO DECISION LOGIC
The system builds on existing guidelines, making brand decisions usable across workflows during the transition.
EMBEDDING THE SYSTEM INTO WORKFLOWS
The system was embedded into a Brand Agent designed to support teams in applying the identity across real scenarios.
The tool provides structured guidance on typography, layout and visual elements, reducing ambiguity and enabling more consistent outputs across teams.
LIMITS OF THE SYSTEM
The identity relied on a highly saturated palette and a dominant spherical device. While effective in isolation, these elements became harder to manage across product, campaigns and internal communications.
The result was a system that appeared consistent, but lacked distinction and adaptability across contexts.
MAKING THE BRAND OPERATIONAL
The work focused on translating the brand into a system that could operate across real use cases, reducing visual complexity and introducing clearer rules for application.
The visual language shifted towards a more editorial and human approach, improving clarity across different types of content.
FROM STATIC GUIDANCE TO DECISION LOGIC
The system builds on existing guidelines, making brand decisions usable across workflows during the transition.
EMBEDDING THE SYSTEM INTO WORKFLOWS
In parallel, I designed the architecture and behaviour of an AI Brand Agent that translates the system into daily guidance.
It helps teams interpret rules, apply components correctly, validate layouts and generate aligned first-pass designs — turning brand governance into an intelligent, operational layer rather than static documentation.
INTERIM SYSTEM
This interim framework translated the brand into a usable system, guiding teams and informing the direction of the subsequent brand evolution.
Typography was rebalanced from heavy, decorative styles to a lighter system, improving clarity and consistency across applications
This interim framework translated the brand into a usable system, guiding teams and informing the direction of the subsequent brand evolution
Typography was rebalanced from heavy, decorative styles to a lighter system, improving clarity and consistency across applications.
Typography was rebalanced from heavy, decorative styles to a lighter system, improving clarity and consistency across applications
The palette was simplified by removing redundant colours and restructuring it into a smaller set of tonal families, improving consistency and scalability across applications.
The palette was simplified by removing redundant colours and restructuring it into a smaller set of tonal families, improving consistency and scalability across applications
APPLICATIONS
The system was applied across key touchpoints, ensuring consistency while adapting to different formats and user contexts.
BRAND AGENT
Each request is evaluated against context, output type, brand logic and escalation thresholds, enabling the system to provide direct guidance, suggest the closest compliant option, or route sensitive cases for review
FOUNDATION
ASSETS
APPLICATION LOGIC
GOVERNANCE
This decision model translates the four layers behind the agent into a usable response structure, showing how requests are interpreted, grounded and routed across real brand scenarios
Reducing ambiguity and enabling more consistent brand decisions across real outputs
INTERIM SYSTEM
This interim framework translated the brand into a usable system, guiding teams and informing the direction of the subsequent brand evolution.
This interim framework translated the brand into a usable system, guiding teams and informing the direction of the subsequent brand evolution
Typography was rebalanced from heavy, decorative styles to a lighter system, improving clarity and consistency across applications.
The palette was simplified by removing redundant colours and restructuring it into a smaller set of tonal families, improving consistency and scalability across applications.
APPLICATIONS
The system was applied across key touchpoints, ensuring consistency while adapting to different formats and user contexts.
BRAND AGENT
Each request is evaluated against context, output type, brand logic and escalation thresholds, enabling the system to provide direct guidance, suggest the closest compliant option, or route sensitive cases for review
FOUNDATION
ASSETS
APPLICATION LOGIC
GOVERNANCE
This decision model translates the four layers behind the agent into a usable response structure, showing how requests are interpreted, grounded and routed across real brand scenarios
Reducing ambiguity and enabling more consistent brand decisions across real outputs