illustrator & Designer
Brand & Identity, Independent Projects, Illustration
In late 2019 and early 2020, Circle sunset, sold, or spun out every one of its consumer products, and dedicated itself to building B2B USDC services. Naturally, it was time for a rebrand! Though I had left the company months before, my friend and former colleague Kristine asked me to once again define the company’s illustrative brand—this time as a freelancer.
In 2018, CENTRE launched USD Coin, a stablecoin pegged to the value of the US Dollar. Less than a month later, Coinbase joined Circle to formally found the CENTRE consortium, and with that announcement came a whole new look for USDC. That’s right: even the most diehard crypto fan might not realize that for the first four weeks of its life, the world’s largest, fastest-growing stablecoin had a completely different visual identity. So who’s the poor sap who designed that first logo?
[cough cough]
Brand & Identity, Illustration
Circle was founded on the belief that blockchain technology could usher in a more open and inclusive global economy. But such a future can’t be built within the walls of a private company. It requires open standards and partnerships. That’s why, in 2017, Circle announced CENTRE, a “foundation, open source project, protocol, and network aimed at breaking down the barriers which cost us money and time to connect to each other financially.”
As a financial tech startup, Circle’s apps have always needed to represent currency. Circle Pay got its start as a Bitcoin wallet, and within a couple years added US Dollars, British Pounds, and Euros. Custom icons were made for these four currencies, showing up throughout the app and its marketing.
But Circle Invest called for even more. The app offers _thirteen_ different crypto assets. Presenting these disparate crypto projects in a coherent and consistent way would advance Invest's mission to make crypto more approachable. I set out to create a unified set of crypto icons. Easier said than done…
Animation & Video, Illustration
In early 2019, Circle’s chief evangelist Anders Brownworth and I collaborated on an animated educational video. The project's goal was to demonstrate how USD Coin could facilitate fast, low-cost international transfers between exchanges.