Brand · Identity · Motion · Digital Systems
Over three years as the in-house brand designer for Rakuten Rewards across Spain, UK and Germany. Web, app, paid media, CRM and social. Static and motion. Three markets running at the same time.
Spain and Germany were about consistency: applying the global visual system across every format and channel, adapting to local needs. German copy reshapes entire layouts. It sounds minor until you’re doing it across every asset, every week.
The UK started the same way. Campaigns, assets, day-to-day execution. Then came the relaunch.
A full platform relaunch while everything was already live. The goal was to adapt the US brand identity, visual language and tone of voice to the UK market. I implemented a new design system across web, app, communications and motion. New visual language, new components, new everything.
I chased the US team for assets. I updated every brand logo on the platform, reworking sizes and colours to fit the new system, with the help of the product team.
Motion made up roughly half the output, produced across Figma, Photoshop and After Effects.
Everything was new, the brand guidelines included, so before anything else I had to understand and adapt the system. Only then could I start building on top of it: updating the entire website, landing pages, brand logos, Play Store and App Store listings, and the app itself.
Then the relaunch campaign to communicate the change to existing users, and then the ongoing campaigns, promotions and emails that followed.
The new website also meant a completely new asset library. New components and building blocks made possible by the product team, that expanded what we could do and how fast we could do it. New email templates, more types of emails than before, and a full paid social setup, all built from scratch to fit the new system.
The template system came out of necessity. Managing three markets alone meant I needed a sustainable way to work, so I built something reusable, consistent and fast.
The platform launched on schedule on April 10, 2024. Year-over-year results across acquisition, registration and sales:
Figures are approximate, shared in line with company confidentiality guidelines.
Enhanced user experience & brand consistency. Full harmonization between Rakuten.co.uk and the global Rakuten Rewards platform, strengthening international brand identity and delivering a unified, modern, and intuitive user experience.
The whole team put everything into it, and it showed.
And the best part: when the project wrapped, the design team grew.