Voila AI Artist – rebranding

https://antongolev.com/en/cases/voila-ai-artist

The Voila project is interesting and at the same time as complex as possible. We did not start it from scratch, but from an already high bar, which had to be surpassed and at the same time maintain recognition. The app is in the TOP 1 in 25 countries, it has been downloaded more than 20,000,000 times, and the Instagram account has more than 100,000 subscribers. On the one hand, this set the bar for us to take on a new level of responsibility, but on the other, there were additional limitations. We needed to create a design that would keep the audience loyal and approve of the new vision.

The creators of the app are 2 technology and creativity enthusiasts. They started their business in America about 10 years ago and know how to achieve their goals all over the world. Among the technologies they have developed are many entertaining and functional photo processing services.

At the time we started our work, 10 years after release, the technology was still basic, with no tools for editing. We had to find and broadcast a “wow effect” that would preserve the brand values and breathe new life into it. In the hands of our team, the Voila AI Artist app had to grow into something unique through rebranding and creating a radical new social media design. Become something magical.

As with any of our projects, we began our work with Voila with research. We came to the unobvious conclusion that, despite the seemingly serious competition, there were very few worthy players who matched Voila in terms of meaning and solution. Brands paid more attention to the visuals than to the content. Successful apps turned out to be situationally advantageous and quickly went out of trend. In the absence of fundamental values, development slowed down, allowing us to embody bold and unconventional solutions that stand out from the crowd and are remembered by users.

We assumed that everyone is unique and creative, and Voila would be an assistant to create amazing images in seconds. With this in mind, it was a successful hypothesis to focus on personalities. To get closer to ordinary people, we moved away from famous personalities and celebrities to user-generated content. We showed that the app is easy to use, and thanks to useful tutorials and clear descriptions of Voila’s features, anyone can make themselves known and present themselves to others in an interesting way with the message “I can do that too”.

We have played with personal content on social networks in a non-trivial way, where a grid is assembled from multicolored Tetris shapes, and the photos complement the colors. The puzzle is put together in an engaging and fun way through the use of juicy, bold colors and photo processing in the Voila app. They instantly make it clear who the content is for: young, active, creative people with out-of-the-box thinking. 

Then we refined the logo – made it easier to perceive and more memorable. We could not change it significantly, as the brand was already familiar to millions of users and should remain popular.