THE INTRO
Founded in Poland in 2013, Displate built a strong business around premium metal posters and officially licensed pop-culture art. Over time, however, the brand had begun to drift. As the company scaled, different teams interpreted and modified the brand in their own ways - resulting in inconsistent visuals, fragmented voice, and a growing gap between who Displate was and who it wanted to become.
For a company rooted in pop culture and fandom, this misalignment was more than a design problem. It was a brand identity problem.
The last major brand update had been more than a decade earlier. In the years since, Displate had grown rapidly - new markets, new partners, new product lines - without a modern system to hold it all together.
Internally, teams lacked a shared understanding of the brand, leading to inconsistent execution and erosion of confidence. Externally, the brand felt increasingly out of touch with its audience, and potential partners struggled to understand the value of collaboration. Brand partnerships began to stagnate, putting future deals at risk.
The challenge wasn’t simply to “refresh the look.” It was to resolve an identity crisis and rebuild the brand as a cohesive, modern expression of fandom.
MY ROLE
On day one, I assumed ownership of the brand refresh. I paused the external agency engagement, aligned internal leadership around a clear vision, and then re-engaged the agency with sharper direction and context.
I served as the primary decision-maker across strategy, creative, and execution - guiding every major choice from visual identity and creative system to tagline and tone of voice. I regularly presented progress and decisions to the C-suite to maintain alignment and momentum.
Following delivery, I partnered with Displate’s internal team to transform the initial 25-page guideline into a 99-page brand manifesto - one that connected fandom, customer insight, and company strategy. I then led internal rollout and implementation, overseeing brand adoption across marketing efforts representing more than $30M in spend.
THE BRAND IDEA
At the heart of the refresh was a simple truth:
Your collection of Displates is a reflection of who you are.
The new brand is built around the idea of reflection and shine - both literal and emotional. The metal surface reflects light, but more importantly, the art reflects identity, taste, and the stories fans connect with.
This idea replaced a more functional, product-led expression with one rooted in emotional connection and self-expression. The result was a brand platform that positioned Displate not just as wall art, but as a way fans show the world what they love.
THE SYSTEM
The brand refresh was designed as a system, not a style guide.
The brand book became a unifying framework for how Displate makes decisions across the business - from social and partnerships to packaging and press. It defined product hierarchy, clarified how fandom is framed, and established clear creative rules that could scale globally.
Yes, it included the fundamentals - new color palette, typography with type ramps, animation principles, photography guidance, voice and tone, templates, and the new tagline LET YOUR FANDOM SHINE - but it went further. The book grounded the brand in pop-culture literacy, articulated Displate’s role within fandom, and aligned teams around a shared understanding of value and purpose.
This wasn’t about control. It was about clarity.
THE WORK
To support adoption, I conceived and directed an internal hype video to launch the refreshed brand. The goal wasn’t documentation - it was excitement. The video served as a rallying moment, reinforcing the emotional core of the brand and helping teams see themselves in the future Displate was building toward.
Alongside the video, we rolled out a full suite of internal and external assets - presentation decks, business cards, email signatures, templates, and working examples - ensuring teams could immediately apply the new system with confidence.
THE RESULTS
The refresh achieved full internal adoption and is now embedded across the organization. All holiday marketing leveraged the new brand system, and the refreshed identity is rolling out across the website and owned channels.
Performance improved alongside perception, with increased CTR and stronger engagement driven by clearer storytelling and elevated creative quality. Perhaps most importantly, the refreshed brand unlocked momentum in partnerships - helping Displate secure new relationships with top-tier brands including PlayStation and Fortnite.
Internally, the creative team embraced the system, and the overall quality and consistency of output rose significantly. The brand refresh didn’t just change how Displate looks - it changed how the company shows up, decides, and creates.
