PolyATOM
Cloud Management at Scale
PolyATOM is a kubernetes-based language agnostic cloud native platform for app development and deployment. It was developed by a group of engineers as the backend for American Tire.
A Line of Communication
One of the hurdles early on was communication. The team of engineers and had never worked with designers before. Our first few meetings ended being overly technical for what was needed.
We developed a structure to prevent our presentations from going off the rails or getting muddled in jargon. From here I was able to start ideation.
Option 1 - Exponential
Adapting by spinning up instances as needed the platform could grow as needed. The raised power replaced the word ATOM, also a doubled visually as the atomic weight you'd find on a periodic table. The hexagonal resembles a cube in isometric view, and represented both containerization in Kubernetes services as well as a container housing all the services the brand offered.
Option 2 - Scalability
The handling of microservices from small to large. The design language was based around a circle representing the core platform with an interlinking shape representing a service.
Option 3 - Rising Sun
Being the new kid on the block, it was a dawn of a new era, as it did all the things only some of its competitors did. The design represented a rising sun on the horizon. The halos of light being represented by rings of an atom as seen in the Bohr's model, with the dots being a different service around the core platform.
And then there were two...
After a few meetings, we were able to narrow it down to two options.
We received the final names of the services in the subrand in addition to one new product. We adjusted those icons accordingly.
The client ultimately chose the first option. One more revision and we had our final logo set.
Bringing it to Life
After the initial round of colors were finalized, the client decided that they would like more flexibility should they decide to add products down the line.
We came up with a mesh gradient. This gave them flexibility as they could pull from any color within the gradient.
Typography
We chose open fonts Barlow for displays and headings, as it was clean and utilitarian. IBM Plex Serif as it provided contrast, and is readable at small sizes.
Expanding the Nodes
One-Pager & Pitch Deck
One-pagers and a pitch deck were created for product marketing. It allowed the client to be concise about their product to potential customers, and it allowed me to stress test the brand being built.
Templates
Marketing email templates, and letterheads were created for easy access in the future.
Launching the Product
We created a website introducing potential customers to the product, detailing the services, and giving them an easy way to request a demo to the platform.
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