With You rebrands ad marketplace Index Exchange, bringing a sense of humanity to the “complex subject of ad tech”

Sydney-based studio With You takes on branding “the bright future of ad tech” with its new identity for Index Exchange, designed in collaboration with London agency, Egg. As the advertising marketplace makes the shift to becoming an omnichannel ad exchange, With You creates a rebrand that breaks down the “extremely complex subject of ad tech” with a human touch.

For With You, capturing the technological growth of Index Exchange’s recent operations was key for the project. However, the studio was also conscious of how inaccessible the subject might be. To overcome this hurdle, simplistic and human-based sketches were used by Madison van Rijn. The illustrations help explain the complex nature of Index’s omnichannel capabilities and “improve relatability when communicating product features,” With You senior designer Cassie Ciccarelli tells It’s Nice That.

“We felt it was important to put people at the forefront of the brand, particularly to inject warmth into a brand that was mainly type and colour. Madison’s sketch style brings forward a friendly tone and serves as a tool to speak to Index Exchange’s character as a company.”

Index Exchange’s new palette sees the introduction of Evergreen, a colour rarely found in the tech industry, with Dusk and Stone used to add a sense of approachability. With You also developed a highly flexible design system based on a square grid. Detailed guidelines were created to support whatever task the future might throw at the system, from business cards through to in-person brand activations.

While the idea of momentum was crucial to Index Exchange’s new identity, With You also wanted to pay homage to the original brand. “Index Exchange has an important legacy within the ad tech industry,” says Ciccarelli, “and we felt it important to acknowledge this. As such, the squares of the original logo were reworked to an upwards right angle arrow in the new logo, which spoke to the idea of acceleration.” Additionally, Index’s new logo form is stacked, refined and pared back.