Influur helps content creators get work with brands for a decent compensation. Studio Herrström explains how they crafted a fresh visual identity for the agency that can help boost their mission.
It’s a strange world we live in. Right now, there are creators on YouTube, TikTok, and other platforms that most of us have never heard of or will possibly never hear of. And yet they have millions of devoted fans, for whom they’re more important and, to their minds, more “famous” than celebrities we think of as household names.
Influur is a specialist agency that connects these creators, specifically in the areas of music, dance and lifestyle, with brands, helping them form impactful partnerships and reach specific target groups. Some notable examples of creators who’ve collaborated with brands via Influur include big music artists like Belinda, dancers such as Shicko and Nena, and social media influencers such as James Charles and Lele Pons.
Influur was already a successful enterprise, hosting a diverse community of over 30,000 creators across various categories for branded events and social media collaborations. But they needed a new identity that fully reflected their role as a disruptor in this fast-evolving space. So they turned to Austrian design agency Studio Herrström.
We chatted with the creative director and founder, Erik Herrström, about how they responded to the brief.
Context: What does Influur do?
Before we get started, though, not all of us are steeped in the world of YouTube, TikTok, and social media influencers. So, at our request, Erik starts by giving us some insight into what exactly the “creator marketplace” is, and the role Influur plays in it.
“In the 90s, my mom was working within music licensing in Sweden,” he recalls. “She was travelling around all of Sweden, trying to get venues, restaurants and bars to pay for the music they played. She often came home and told stories about how hard it was to convince venue owners there was someone behind the craft that needed to be compensated. Her stories helped shape my understanding that artists and creators must be compensated fairly and properly.”
And that same mission, he explains, is shared by the founders of Influur: Alessandra Angelini, Valeria Angelini, Paula Coleman and Estefany Oliveira. “When we first started our collaboration,” he explains, “I remember how Alessandra said they want to really create a safe space for any creator out there to connect with brands and make a profit from doing what they love.”
In other words, Influur are on a mission to solve a bigger problem within the creator industry: brands using creators to promote their products, but not compensating them fairly. “If the job is done, compensation should be provided,” Erik reasons.
More specifically, he adds: “Influur was created to streamline the creator economy by addressing key challenges like disorganised communication, inconsistent rates, and the lack of industry education for brands,” explains Erik. “They are set on creating a safe, efficient platform where brands and creators can collaborate seamlessly, fostering better partnerships and positive outcomes.”
Visual system and logo
Studio Herrström’s brand strategy emphasises Influur’s role in fostering ambition and growth for both creators and brands. At its core is a flexible and dynamic visual system designed to adapt to various contexts while maintaining a consistent and bold presence.
It was important that the brand could communicate across multiple mediums while ensuring clarity, consistency, and creative freedom – just as you expect from brands and creators.
The studio developed an adaptable identity system that includes a round wordmark that helps inform brand shapes, patterns, product design and motion.
One of the key elements they introduced was a distinctive symbol derived from the top of the ‘i’ in the logotype.
This symbol serves a dual purpose: it represents precision, highlighting how Influur helps brands find the right creators, and it also symbolises the audience or the “right person”, who can make a meaningful connection for the brand.
Typography and colour palette
The visual identity system uses Duplet Open, a timeless and elegant typeface that gives the brand credibility. Complementing this is ES Rebond Grotesque, an expressive typeface that captures the energy of Influur’s stories, helping the brand connect more deeply with its audience.
“We really wanted to emphasise how smooth and frictionless the platform is,” stresses Erik. “And so we arrived at the idea of making it feel welcoming for all brands and a diverse range of creators. This led us to choose the round Duplet Open typeface from Indian Type Foundry. From there, we saw a great opportunity to connect it to a design system using positive paths representing how creators move through different brand campaigns, achieving success alongside the brands.”
The graphics and patterns they developed are designed to reflect the diversity of creators on the platform. With orange as the core colour, symbolising creativity and passion, the palette is vibrant yet flexible.
This cohesive visual identity not only celebrates the creativity driving the platform but also helps brands effectively connect with the specific target audiences they seek.
Multiple possibilities
Overall, this design system offers multiple possibilities, allowing the brand to shift between core, minimal elements and more expressive, vibrant visuals. This adaptability ensures Influur can respond to different contexts and moments while staying true to its identity.
It’s all been a fascinating journey for the studio, and here’s something else that was different about the project.
“While we have experience working with many clients and stakeholders, having four co-founders was quite rare,” reflects Erik. “Plus, this was the first time we worked with five women as stakeholders: the four co-founders and the head of marketing. Projects are too often male-dominated, so we love to see this change. We had a lot of fun, and we hope this is reflected in the identity.”