Onwards & upwards! A fresh new brand to take Productboard into the future

I founded Productboard five years ago with a simple mission: to help companies build products that matter, together. Five years may not seem like much, but in the hyper-growth world of startups, it’s a long time. 

In those five years, we’ve grown from a tiny startup with a handful of people to an established, globally recognized company. Earlier this year, we closed our $45 million Series B, backed by some of Silicon Valley’s top VC firms. Our team is now over 200 strong, with offices in San Francisco, Vancouver, and Prague. 

To put it simply: Productboard is growing up – and we wanted our brand image to reflect this. That’s why, in recent months, a team of designers, content creators, marketers, and developers has been working hard to bring a fresh look to the Productboard brand, which we are delighted to unveil this week. 

Although simplicity was certainly a guiding principle behind our new look, there’s more to these changes than meets the eye. So without further ado, here’s the story behind our brand refresh.

Our new logo

At the center of our brand refresh is a rethinking of the Productboard logo. We didn’t want a complete redesign. After all, we loved the old logo – it was simple, memorable, and represented directionality and progress. But we believed that there was room for improvement in the way this message was conveyed.

The old logo was made up of eight separate shapes and colors. Each of these facets worked together to create a bold, but visually complex, symbol. This complexity worked against our goals of simplicity.

For the new logo, we’ve simplified the symbol we all know and love. Now, our logo is made up of just three shapes and colors. It has a new name, too.

Introducing The Vessel

Why a vessel? Well, think of it as something you hop into to start your product journey. It guides you through the product development cycle, shielding you from a barrage of distractions while protecting your precious cargo of customer insights. It carries the whole team in the right direction, towards your product goals. 

The vessel is led by blue – the color of wisdom, intelligence, and deep understanding. This represents the vision and insights that we derive from customer feedback, which guides every aspect of the product management cycle. You can find this ‘vision blue’ throughout Productboard in Insights. 

The bottom portion of the vessel (or the right booster) is red – the color of focus, determination, and direction. This represents strategy, and you can find it in Productboard throughout the Prioritization features.

The top portion (or the left booster) is yellow – the color of clarity, concentration, and energy. It represents execution, and you can find it in Productboard throughout the Roadmaps.

 

 

 

The three parts of the vessel – vision blue, strategy red, and execution yellow – come together to represent Product Excellence. This is the philosophy that guides everything we do at Productboard, helping us – and our customers – get the right products to market, faster. 

Our new logotype

To accompany the vessel, we’ve also refreshed our logotype, which is now proportionally sized to feel optically balanced. In addition, we’ve introduced a new typeface called Eina and carefully custom-kerned the logotype, removing distracting rivers of white space between each letterform.

The refreshed logo is part of a broader brand system, consisting of new guidelines around our tone of voice, a fresh illustration style, and new typography and brand elements. This will help us communicate in a way that is distinctly Productboard, guided by our desire to inspire, guide, and delight. 

Onwards and upwards 🚀

So there you have it: a fresh new look to take us into the next chapter of our story – one that neatly encapsulates who we are as a company, where we’ve been, and where we’re heading. 

Here’s to the future, and to many more companies jumping on board the Productboard ‘Vessel’ on their journey towards Product Excellence!