Facebook Business
Brand & Web Design that Helped Businesses Succeed in the Age of Social Media
Facebook Business was originally nested within the Facebook Ads Help Center. A search and discover styled site dedicated to providing people with info and step by step instructions on how to create ads. It was within this legacy system that Facebook Business was born from. We already knew that in order for people to succeed on our platforms we needed to give them the power to do so and inspire them.
I led the brand and web efforts dedicated to creating a platform that educated, inspired, and informed people on the Facebook platforms that were searching for their audience.
I also led many projects within the Facebook Business ecosystem that were beneficial not just to the company but also to small and medium business owners around the world.
You can view the Facebook Blueprint project here if you’d like to see more work that’s focused on education.
You can view the Facebook Visual and Illustration Systems project here if you’d like to see work that is more focused on illustration work.
THE PROBLEM
Facebook and its brands have a lot of services and therefore a lot of information to bestow unto their users. And with a lot of brands comes a lot of initial disparity as well. We needed to first attain as much info as possible to then make difficult decisions through trial, and error, on the “what” part of the equation before getting to the “why” and “how.”
THE BRIEF
Bring together the Facebook family of apps and services into one unified online location that provides critical announcements, news, and helpful information to users that’s digestible.
INSIGHTS & LEARNINGS
Information and data are your best friend when making a point or looking for which way to go. But, you always need a guiding light, a north start, in order to rally everyone forward together.
COLOR
Each of our platforms has a lot invested in their unique identities. We primarily use their existing brand colors when designing their pages, to let them stand apart from each other.
PHOTOGRAPHY
We shoot photography with a documentary approach to tell real stories about real people. With the idea that there’s always more than one way to photograph a story but used effectively, it’s a powerful tool to convey human impact, establish empathy with viewers and make our content more relatable.
HUMAN
Businesses need people to build their communities and grow. And no one knows people like Facebook. Simply put, we’re here to help companies get closer to their customers.
MESSAGING and TONE
EMPATHETIC
We understand businesses because we are one. Millions of companies of all shapes and sizes come to Facebook to succeed. We care about who they are, why they’re here and how we can help.
CONFIDENT
Businesses look to us because we have some of the most powerful tools and insights available online. We inspire confidence by knowing our offering, and conveying its value to those who could benefit.
CLEAR
Our audience is busy, and they need our help to get things done. We respect their time and attention when we communicate with them in the simplest terms, avoiding jargon, and getting straight to the point.
TYPOGRAPHY
Our typography for marketing was previously built around Freight Sans. Now, we’re making the transition to Facebook Sans, a proprietary geometric sans serif family with the tone, technical details and language support needed to modernize our typographic voice.
MOTION
Time is our most valuable asset so using a limited set of easing curves to control all animations results in a branded motion signature. Our motion is smooth but snappy, making interactions feel more human without wasting any of our users’ time.
APPROACH and PUTTING IT TOGETHER
So many pieces create a holistic brand experience. From buttons derived from the shape of logos to cinema experiences shown on a persons mobile device. It all plays a vital role in how a brand is perceived and how that brand tells its story. At Facebook we chose to make it the most intuitive, simple, and beautiful.
My Role: Art Direction, Design, Illustration, User Experience, Prototyping, Story, Data Collection
Instrument: Design, Branding, Motion
Sonny Brabez: Engineering, CMS Development
Allie Townsend: Copywriter, Content Strategy, Story, Site Map
Ilana Solomons: Copywriter, Content
Scott Larson: Executive Creative Director
Sang Han: Creative Lead and Producer
Leonardo De La Rocha: Creative Lead
JJ Gray: Creative Lead
Chean Wei Law: Creative Lead
Length of Project:
Ongoing, 4 years