Output X Cuckoo: full speed ahead with this feel-good design system that will not stay still

How do you set your brand apart in an overly-saturated market? First and foremost, you build, design, and evolve a character through design. This week Typeroom highlights Output’s brand and design system for Cuckoo, a startup that aims to become the UK’s fastest, fairest, feel-good internet service provider. Pay attention to that “feel-good” element.

“Cuckoo is on a mission to change broadband for good. Faster. Fairer. With a positive impact on the world. Together, we created a brand to live up to the startup’s big ambitions, positioning Cuckoo as a broadband provider you can actually feel good about” notes Output. Challenged to evolve a fully-fledged visual identity and design system to encapsulate Cuckoo’s central idea, the studio “established high-level motion principles across the brand and digital experience, from micro-interactions and functional builds, to rewarding signature moments full of Cuckoo spirit.”  

“Cuckoo’s difference is the experience they give customers and the way they invest profit in making the world more connected. We asked ourselves if Cuckoo is broadband that starts good, stays good and does good — why shouldn’t the brand feel good?” explains Johanna Drewe, Output’s creative director. 

“To position Cuckoo alongside global tech leaders, motion design plays a key role in the new design language. We established high-level motion principles across the brand and digital experience, from micro-interactions and functional builds, to rewarding signature moments full of Cuckoo spirit” explains Output. 

Output refined Cuckoo’s symbol, redrew the wordmark to add more character alongside it and took “the core identity to a new level” in the shapely characters of the new brand typeface Garnett. 

Set in clean, legible bespoke type and rooted in motion design, the branding brings Cuckoo’s customer benefits to life with “motion principles that guide every type of interaction across Cuckoo’s touchpoints,” in this simplified and “frictionless digital experience.”

Output is a design agency creating brand identities and digital experiences “for people with mission and ambition.” 

Feel the goodness here.