You might have noticed Catalyst has an all-new look and feel. While the software itself still offers the same functions and navigation as before, we’ve updated our logo, font, color scheme and website to more closely align with our vision for the software and what it stands for, going forward.
If you were curious about the changes, we thought we’d give you a little inside look at the reasoning behind the changes, going behind the scenes with our marketing team. Let’s dive in!
Design Elements:
Design elements like logos, fonts and color palettes play a key role in branding by communicating a subtle, but ever-present feel. Catalyst is a powerful business performance solution, delivering key intelligence that helps companies grow, from a single source of truth. Drawing on color theory, the science of how humans perceive color, we reimagined the look of the Catalyst color palette to reflect these ideas.
For our typeface, our intention was to give Catalyst a modern, sophisticated feel, and perhaps no font is better suited for that task than Gotham. First designed by American type designer Tobias Frere-Jones for GQ Magazine in 2000, Gotham is distinctively the font of “now”. A Helvetica for the 21st century. It’s shapely, clean and easy-to-read from a distance. Gotham was the font of choice for films such as Moneyball, Inception and Moonlight, and serves as the logo font for Spotify and Saturday Night Live.
Our new Catalyst logo, designed by MGMT3D Creative Director, Kyle Steffen, incorporates our newly adopted Gotham font and the new color palette into its design. The accompanying logo mark on the right-hand side combines the Catalyst C with a cubic shape, referencing the data cubes that are a central part of the Catalyst product.
Messaging and Voice:
In reshaping our messaging for the new Catalyst website, we wanted to differentiate ourselves from the competition. First and foremost, we refocused our messaging from talking about the tool itself, to talking about what the tool can do for YOU.
We dove into the major hot buttons and pain points that plague organizations; and used our new website as a forum to help people understand how Catalyst can solve those common problems. Our content team paired an award-winning copywriter with a marketing strategist who has experience in both public accounting and the office of finance for a major corporation. Together, the team came up with relatable real-world examples to tell the Catalyst product story.
Another fundamental change in our approach to content was leading with our “why”, rather than our “how” or “what”. Going back to our name, “Catalyst”, reunited us with our brand’s true North. This software is about empowering change. With that in mind, we took a confident approach to the voice, using headlines like, “Find the revelation that sparks your evolution.” and “Become a rainmaker. Not a weather reporter.” – powerful lines that are driven by action, and that highlight feelings of empowerment and transformation.
Web Design:
All of these elements and more come together on the new Catalyst website. We wanted the website to give a more technologically advanced feel than the previous site, which we did by incorporating more interactive features, animations and videos, along with the new look and feel.
A very important element of the website was the division and digestibility of information. Longer paragraphs tend to focus more on how Catalyst acts as a game changer to solve issues that plague organizations. Features and benefits tend to be broken out into smaller, easy-to-digest sections, instead of being hidden in long paragraphs. Furthermore, icons near the top of each page allow users to easily skip down to any feature they want to explore.
The website also includes several interactive screenshots from within the tool, allowing users to learn about and get a feel for the different features inside the tool. We felt this was important, not only from a sales perspective, but as a continuing education tool for Catalyst users.
Lastly, and most importantly, our website drives to different options for users to see the tool in action. We give potential customers a 100% transparent view of what is included in a demo or proof-of-concept, and they can sign up for more information, a discovery call, a demo (with sample data) or a FREE POC (with their own data) right through the website.
We hope that you enjoy the new Catalyst look, feel and website; and we hope the new approach sparks some ideas about how Catalyst can potentially help your organization. After all, empowering change is why we do what we do.