Graphy

Background

It’s not a book, it’s not Youtube, and it’s definitely not TikTok. Graphy is a totally new medium for discovering and sharing ideas. In close collaboration with India’s biggest online learning platform Unacademy, we helped define and design the format of ‘Graphys’ for users everywhere.

When we started working together, Graphy was a new publishing platform still in concept. We were brought on board to help create the experience – from brand and strategy, to the product itself. Our challenge was to take Graphy’s early prototype, and develop it into something its audience would connect with.

Immersion

Through rapid prototyping and collective working (lockdown-style), we codified Graphy’s format – creating a new medium for an audience that isn’t engaged by books, and isn’t getting much out of today’s clickbait. We worked fast, collaborating as one team rather than agency and client.

Brand strategy

The core concept behind Graphy was to ‘Bring life to ideas’. This strategy, along with a set of guiding experience principles, steered absolutely everything; from decisions about the product, to the look and feel of the brand.

Brand expression

This concept came to life across the product experience, from the immersive homepage to a unique ‘gift’ function – a meaningful way to share Graphys with friends.

Visually, we designed a system around the ‘thread of an idea’, using animated line drawings as both illustration and functional tools. Our mark and pattern palette hypnotically draws people into our world, while our line language takes people on a journey through the app’s content.

Results

Graphy is now its own medium: ‘episodic interactive visual, audio and written content’. Graphy’s success has continued and it is now estimated that its annual revenue is $1.6 million. Among its 11 competitors, Graphy ranks 2nd and continues to attract new users.

“As soon as we started working with DesignStudio, it felt like they were a part of our core team with the same passion, enthusiasm and energy we possess. They took extra efforts to ensure understanding of our thought process first, and provided us with the brand and product direction, which aligned with our vision and user's core needs.”

Sushil Kumar
Co-Founder, Graphy