Overview
It began as a modest request: a UI redesign. But the more we looked at how Brevo appeared in marketing, the more obvious it became that the issue wasn't polish. It was how we explain ourselves.
So we widened the scope with one goal: rethink how we showcase the product. Instead of literal screenshots, we wanted illustrative product storytelling, visuals that help people understand the experience at a glance and reinforce Brevo's identity as intuitive and accessible for beginners, yet powerful enough for experts.
I led the project from there, from research to delivery.
Problem
Our visuals were screenshots. They showed everything and said very little.
We benchmarked how leading SaaS brands present their products, then audited our own assets. Three issues stood out:
Line weight: thick outer frames pulled the eye to the container instead of the content.
Colour: applied without logic, so nothing stood out for the right reason.
Complexity: too many elements competed, and the message arrived late.
The challenge was a tension. Visuals had to be believable enough to represent the real product, and simple enough to tell a story, across every team and channel.
Decision
We explored three routes:
Small evolution: thinner outline, unified colour, tighter type.
Sleek and sophisticated: light greys, pops of green, more whitespace.
Punchier and attention grabbing: ticket outline, bold type, extended palette.
We chose Route 3. The first two were cleaner, but safe. Route 3 gave Brevo a voice of its own, one that stands out in crowded SaaS feeds while staying approachable.
A style alone doesn't change how teams work, so we built a system around it:
A literal-to-abstract scale defining how product imagery evolves depending on where it's used
Standardised asset sizes and hierarchy, from hero visuals to UI snippets
Revisited guidelines for all other brand assets
Template systems for the social media and events teams
A CRM component library, designed with the CRM team and built by developers for the Brevo editor, carrying the refresh into customers' emails
Brand refresh
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Design Lead
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Template systems
2025
Result
Brevo now speaks with one visual language, from campaigns to the product itself.
One recognisable identity across product imagery, social, events and email
A clear answer to the "screenshot or illustration?" question, thanks to the literal-to-abstract scale
Faster, more autonomous teams, with social and events producing on-brand content from templates
A refresh that reaches customers, through the CRM components built into the Brevo editor
Deliverables
Brand guidelines: product imagery scale, asset sizes and hierarchy, and usage rules for all brand assets
Template system: on-brand templates for the social media and events teams
CRM library: components designed with the CRM team and built by developers for the Brevo editor and emails
