Introduction

Skyu is a startup in the air cargo industry, which is a fairly unusual space for startups. 

The company was founded by two partners, one of whom has worked in a high-level job at one of the leading delivery companies, while the other partner owns and operates a more traditional logistics company. Having decades' of experience between the two of them, they identified an issue worth exploring: most leading companies in the industry are mammoths - giant, slow moving, archaic beasts. Innovation is scarce, especially when it comes to customer experience. 

The challenge

The founders of Skyu approached us with a unique challenge: to create a customer-centric brand to disrupt the old-fashioned air freight delivery industry.

Their vision was to make the lives' of logistics managers a little easier, by providing them the best possible airfreight solution, regardless of company size and what needs to be shipped.

To achieve this, they imagined creating an independent hub, where interested parties could input a few critical details, and receive the best possible solution for their specific needs, from all service providers, within a short time. Then, they could easily book and manage their delivery through the same hub.

The solution

The brand

First, we had to clarify the positioning of the new brand. Through a series of workshops, we created the personas, identified the target market and competitors, and defined brand values, purpose and USPs.

"We believe in challenging the status quo to make our clients’ lives simpler."

Once we had the basics laid out, we began research to better understand the market and the trends, and seek out best practices. We identified the main visual characteristics of leading brands, keeping an eye out for what made them similar, as well as unique.

Based on our findings, we started experimenting with visual styles.

Working closely with our clients, we developed the visual style that would best represent what they stand for - disruptive, progressive, and professional, while also signaling trustworthiness and focus.

A delicate balance of new vs. old, familiar vs. brand new was achieved by utilizing widely-used colors in a novel, dramatic way, paired with modern layouts and fonts, alongside relatable imagery.

Finally, we defined the verbal style that would accompany the visuals, to allow the brand to communicate with their target audience in a familiar way, while hinting at novelty and compassion.

Looking for the best air freight solution?

The app

Next, we had to design the right web app, the core of the service, to bring the brand to life.

To do so, we first listed out all the features that seemed useful, then rigorously looked at each of them to judge whether they were core to the desired functionality - this was a startup after all, so a lean approach was necessary.

Once we had the functionality mapped out, we put together an information architecture. The web app had three main parts: the website with user-friendly, step-by-step questionnaire on the front end; and the user profiles, as well as the admin accounts on the back end.

After defining the above, we moved on to drawing lo-fidelity wireframes, which we reviewed and tested, then married these with the brand guidelines to create the prototypes.

The porotypes were tested once again, and after the necessary adjustments were made, we began development.

To ensure that the app would be viable in the real world, we saved some extra dev time for the end.

Once it was launched in beta and could be tested by live users, we used their feedback, as well as the feedback of our client to make some post-launch adjustments, adding new features and fine-tuning existing ones.

The result

We designed the Skyu brand from start to finish, concept to final product. On the week of the launch, the company already had it's first customer. It's too soon to judge yet, but the outlooks are promising. Skyu have everything they need to disrupt an old-fashioned industry, and we'll be following them with excitement to see where their journey takes them.  

‍