04Automated decisioning · Rebrand, then the AI character · Strategy, identity, system

Three companies. One brand. A brand type to hold it.

Twenty years in automated decisioning and two acquisitions had outgrown the old identity. Discovery workshops with leadership and interviews with their biggest national and international customers set the brand type and the positioning. Siloed sub-brands came together under one mark. Then we designed Alfie, the owl that fronts their AI assistant.

  • 3 → 1Sub-brands unified under one mark
  • UnanimousStakeholders agreed the brand type, with confidence
  • EnterpriseHow the market described the new look: sleek, professional, memorable
  • AlfieA character for their generative AI offering
  • Discovery workshops
  • Customer interviews
  • Brand type
  • Positioning
  • Messaging
  • Identity
  • Brand standards
  • Campaign
  • Environments
  • Character design

01The brief

4 moves · in order

Where it started

InRule had led automated decisioning for two decades and had just acquired two supporting technologies. Three companies, three looks, and no shared answer to the question of what they now were. Leadership needed the brand type and the core value proposition settled before anything could be designed, because everything downstream, the products, the site, the sales conversation, would inherit it.

What we did

Every stakeholder answered the same series of questions, alone, before any strategy work began. Then we interviewed leadership at their largest national and international customers to learn what they valued about InRule and where InRule could serve them better. The answers pointed one way. The Ruler brand type emerged from the detail, and when we presented it, the room agreed unanimously. The identity, the standards and the campaign were built from that agreement.

  1. 01SynchronizeEvery stakeholder, the same questions, answered alone.
  2. 02ListenInterviews with the biggest customers, national and international.
  3. 03DecideThe Ruler. Positioning and messaging that trace back to the data.
  4. 04BuildOne mark, a standards manual, the campaign, then Alfie.
Rik Chomko

We really appreciated DarkSquare’s efforts and guidance in helping us define our brand archetype. The outcome of InRule’s brand evolution initiative is a modern look and feel that reflects who we are and our vision for the future.

Rik ChomkoCEO, InRule Technologies

02Identity

One mark · three companies

One mark for three companies.

A wordmark with a golden triangle over the i, a form long associated with stability, understanding, technology and control, which is the Ruler in one shape. The brand type came out of the stakeholders’ own answers, not a mood board: no one named a Ruler at first, the detailed answers did, and the room signed off without dissent. Confident, restrained, built for the boardroom and the trade-show floor alike.

The InRule wordmark in dimensional letters on the office wall
  • The InRule wordmark on navy

    The mark

  • InRule business card, navy with the gold edge

    The card

  • Brand standards: the InRule logo, spacing and color

    The logo

  • Brand standards: alternate logos

    Alternates

  • Brand standards: product icons

    Product icons

03Brand standards

25 pages

A manual their team runs on.

Brand character, typography, a color system with ratios, an icon library, photography standards. Twenty-five pages that let InRule’s own marketing team, and any vendor they hire, produce work that reads as one company.

  • Brand standards: brand character, InRule is and is not

    Brand character

  • Brand standards: typography

    Typography

  • Brand standards: color systems

    Color systems

  • Brand standards: color ratios

    Color ratios

  • Brand standards: icon library

    Icon library

  • Brand standards: Proxima Nova specimen

    The typeface

04In the world

Campaign · environments · web

Insights, informed.

The campaign line and the visual system, applied everywhere the brand lands: advertising, the trade-show booth, signage on the building, the cards in people’s hands.

Campaign: Take charge with decisioning that scales
  • Campaign: Insights informed

    Campaign

  • Campaign: Technology integration is business unification

    Campaign

  • Campaign: Control is empowering your team

    Campaign

  • InRule trade-show booth

    Trade show

  • InRule signage on the building and business cards

    Signage and cards

  • inrule.com pages from the rebrand, laid out

    inrule.com, at launch

  • InRule business cards and exterior signage

    Stationery

05Then, Alfie

Character design

A character for automation at the speed of thought.

InRule built a generative AI assistant that lets users create and modify decision schemas and workflows through plain conversation. They asked us for a character to give it a personality: approachable and friendly, still knowledgeable and serious enough to sit inside the Ruler brand. After a long round of exploration, an owl named Alfie got the job.

Alfie

Alfie the owl and his expressions

Alfie, and his moods

  • Alfie inside the InRule schema assistant

    In the product

  • The Alfie assistant on desktop, laptop, tablet and phone

    Everywhere the product runs

Landing pages introducing Alfie
Pete Fudalej

We were ultimately blown away by the final design of Alfie. He is everything we hoped for and perfectly embodies the spirit of our Generative AI offering. DarkSquare’s creativity and expertise helped us create a brand character that will truly resonate with our customers.

Pete FudalejDirector of Marketing, InRule Technologies

09All the work

9 projects · 4 in depth

The rest of the work.

10The first step

One call

Start with a conversation.

One call and we'll tell you if this is a fit. If it isn't, we'll say so and point you somewhere better.

Book the call