This record is encouraging: the green search engine Ecosia has planted more than 150 million trees in over 35 countries to revitalize ecosystems and landscapes. This makes it the only search engine in the world that displaces fossil fuels from the energy grid with every search - and is 100% committed to a healthier planet with its work. The design studio Koto recently created a new look for the tech company, which is geared towards the common good and which we also present in our current issue. It shows that a deeply sustainable, nature-loving brand doesn't have to conform to clichés and focuses on boldness instead of organic vibes.
Be climate active every day
When asked what distinguishes Ecosia from other search engines, Hannah Wickes, Chief Marketing Officer, replies: "Every other search engine is profit-oriented and earns money from its users, who are monetized through apps. The difference with Ecosia is that we don't want to keep our money for shareholders, but have been investing it in climate protection since 2009. This affects the quality of all our decisions." The purpose of the brand refresh was to draw even more attention to the impact of these internal decisions. "In addition to the attractive new look, we also want to show our users more opportunities to be climate-active every day." The CEO of Ecosia, Christian Kroll, also believes that it is not enough to rely solely on climate neutrality and the goodwill of companies. The optically new chapter of the green search engine is part of Ecosia's commitment to "do everything we can to set ourselves even more ambitious goals and make everything faster, better and more scalable". In figures, this means that half a billion search queries per month and around 20 million active users underline its forward-looking success.
The best possible brand strategy
Koto qualified for the new look thanks to its international experience and strategic expertise. "We have always worked closely with many start-ups and tech companies and understand this world very well," says Johann Laeschke, Managing Director, in a personal conversation. "We know the cycles they go through. However, the branding approach is relatively similar to other brands, because it's always about creating the best possible brand strategy." When the Ecosia team sat down with Koto's designers, they had been in existence for just over ten years, during which the previous branding had worked but was now reaching its limits. "We wanted to usher in the next phase and bring the brand up to date," explains Laeschke. "Ecosia previously used many clichéd elements of typical sustainability topics. But a sustainable brand should also simply be a good, modern, attractive brand."
"A sustainable brand should also simply be a good, modern, attractive brand."
Johann Laeschke, Managing Director Koto
Playful optimism
For the new branding, Koto worked out what this brand stands for and how it positions itself against the competition. The keywords optimism and regeneration were identified as key elements. "Ecosia is so much more than just a search engine, we wanted to use this creative springboard to keep the brand relevant in the future." The design team achieved the playful optimism by focusing visually on the trees that Ecosia plants and using them centrally in their various design languages. Photography came into play as a further visual element, for example in the form of collages of the places where the trees are planted.
Design conveys responsibility
The challenge with the extensive brand refresh was that the tonality and imagery should not affect the search results so that the search engine remains performant in both the browser and the app. In order to achieve a flexible, lean font and number system that adapts to the respective application, Koto worked closely with the Ecosia development team. "Together, we held sprints and workshop sessions to test the implementation," says Johann Laeschke. It is part of Koto's culture to offer the in-house teams a lot of support on the one hand, but not to create any dependency on the other. Finally, we would like to know from Laeschke whether, in his view, it is the job of designers to give sustainability issues a new sexiness and cause customers to rethink. "I would say yes, but basically sustainability is always our job. Our job is to create the best brands. There are many points in the individual process that can improve sustainability, such as the loading time of graphics on a website. Or the color values of a print shop for print projects. As a designer, you always have the opportunity to make better suggestions that have an impact on the sustainability of a brand."
To the website of the design agency Koto
More about Ecosia'smission
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