Brand System Evolution for Snapchat
Can you evolve Snapchat without killing its irreverent chaos?
High Tide collaborated with Snapchat to evolve its brand system while preserving the platform’s playful and irreverent spirit. The studio developed a cohesive visual and motion language that reflects the energy of Snapchat’s community, empowering global teams with interactive brand guidelines and creative principles for consistent yet expressive execution.
Insights
- High Tide had to evolve Snapchat’s brand system without losing its playful, irreverent spirit — a brief about protecting a tone, not just updating a visual asset.
- The foundation was Snapchat’s “Less Likes, More Love” campaign platform, and the studio built an “organised chaos” motion language based on how people actually use the app—tapping, holding, and swiping.
- Snapchat is notable because it historically handled design in-house; Evan Spiegel even drew the yellow ghost himself, making High Tide’s role as an outside studio unusually rare for the brand.
- The new system is cohesive but still expressive, with interactive brand guidelines and creative principles to help teams around the world apply it consistently.
- Snapchat sits alongside brands like WhatsApp and Hinge in a category of social products that intentionally distance themselves from mainstream social-media mechanics, especially the culture of likes.
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