In 2022, Bill.com became BILL. The full brand refresh kicked off by exploring mutliple art directions, taking into account modern aesthetics and BILL’s wide audience of clients from over 10+ years. We embraced new shapes, textures, colors, and tones. We aimed to update BILL’s experience while maintaining their trust among the many businesses they had worked with over the years.
After absorbing their brand history, we decided their next step would be a visual identity that was ownable, warm, and sophisticated. These principles built an ethos that would guide us in refreshing their website of tools and resources, their in-app experience, and throughout their social presence.
Teammates:
Brock Beeson, John Demetres, Zach Ferdman, Grace Chen, Kate Harmer, Sarah Acton
As the illustration lead for the refresh, I wanted to align with our principles as well as create imagery that captivated in a way competitors weren’t doing. We settled on something that was intentionally handdrawn in process and aesthetic. Patches of texture and color allowed for changes in tone, pops of emphasis, and customization. A strong yet varied black ink line established the base of much of the illustration, while texture and color honed the focus and allowed for variety. We also decided to create a more inclusive system, that represented a wider audience while staying minimal and shape-based. The illustration style was expressed differently throughout the customer journey, from being more expressive to more refined and abbreviated.
Of course, illustration couldn’t work on its own. It had to fit well and follow the other aspects of the refreshed design system. Here are a few other touch points that were explored.
Color expression was examined. This began by updating the iconic BILL orange. It began with accessibility as the priority, and then moved towards a more diverse and vibrant color palette, with more color options to keep things fresh and coherent.
Without going into too much detail, BILL also adopted a new typeface. It had a wider font family, increased legibility within the product, and was more modern overall. The impulse to find the next best “tech Sans Serif” was steered by our preliminary decisions to stay warm and ownable -- we kept the customer in mind.
Lastly, motion was considered, and was a newer asset to BILL’s visual brand. As motion lead on the refresh, the initial direction fully leaned into those principles mentioned earlier, and felt very handmade. Animations and movements were lower in fps and allowed for the grids to show. This presented a piece that felt very ownable and unique for the space. As the style has continued to grow and the motion team has worked through it, we smoothed out the edges and dialed down the “handmade” knob to something more subtle. This has allowed the main touchpoints of the brand to sit more front and center. It’s also resituated to fit well in the fintech space.
The whole experience was a joy. It couldn’t have been accomplished without the teamwork and talents of Brock Beeson and John Demetres. Their expertise shaped the other main aspects of the visual brand, along with the strategy for it’s roll out. They aided in its implementation with the product team, and unified the vision with the marketing team. I’m grateful for my time with them. Also, a big shoutout to Grace Chen for working with me and supporting me on the illustration refresh and also Zach Ferdman for taking on the motion system with me.