Airtasker collaborates with Studio Koto on brand overhaul

Sydney-based online marketplace Airtasker collaborated with Studio Koto on an extensive rebrand and repositioning, including a bespoke hand-drawn wordmark and refreshed colour palette.

The Airtasker website and app allows its users to outsource everyday tasks from business and admin to gardening and cleaning. Studio Koto was chosen as a partner for the rebrand for its strong track record of delivering identity systems that “understood the nuances of different global markets”, experience working with two-sided marketplaces, and “balance of strategy and design execution”, says Airtasker’s VP of design James Nau.

Studio Koto and Airtasker’s reinvention of the identity seeks to capture its “bolder, brighter and more energetic” personality, according to Nau. Though the logo has been updated, Nau says it was important to “preserve the idea behind the Airtasker wing”, which aims to symbolise the quick completion of tasks. The new logo features a simplified version, which animates and flutters as part of the A.

Characters in the logo have also been “personified” through animation, Nau explains. As well as the smile that appears within the crossbar of the A, Nau says that the letters of the logomark “wave, smile and jump” in a bid to capture “the warm, uplifting energy and diversity” of Airtasker.

Like the brand’s illustrations, the logo features bespoke hand-drawn elements. Modifications to each letter have also been made using Airtasker’s headline font, PP Formula, “making the entire wordmark one of a kind”, says Nau.

Bespoke illustrations were layered over photography in order to make the images feel “ownable”, Nau adds. The illustrations – which can also be animated – seek to highlight the task being done in the photography, such as water coming out of a hosepipe or a person moving boxes.

All of the brand illustrations are drawn in Airtasker’s new signature blue, which has been chosen to fit with its new bold look and feel. Nau says that the previous blue represented the brand for seven years but its “muted tone” no longer matched up with their offering and personality.

While Koto provided initial concepts for a number of brand assets, UI components and screens, the Airtasker design team was responsible for “designing and defining” the latest version of the design system, website and app, says Nau.

He adds that “asynchronous communication” was key to developing the new Airtasker brand, as the partnership with Koto started during the COVID-19 pandemic. With an 11-hour time difference between the two teams, the remote design process involved Airtasker testing new brand system elements during its team’s working hours and providing brief overviews to Koto, with very little opportunity for real-time discussion.

The new brand identity has been rolled out across all Airtasker channels, from the website and apps to landing pages, communications and merchandise.