Cortex:
Blogs for Business Geeks
UX Design | UI Design | Branding | Social Media
6 months // In Build
Software development company Cortex asked us to rebrand and redesign their website to showcase their brilliant insights into new and emerging ideas in thought leadership and innovative technology. The project took around 6 months from design to development and as of February 2025, is still in build.
Our primary objectives were to design a flexible and responsive blog template and move away from generic web builders. The design needed to accommodate various blog categories, ranging from community-focused topics to advanced technical discussions. Two templates were designed taking inspiration from programming IDE’s, a nod to Cortex’s geeky nature.
Redefining the audience meant looking at who was currently subscribing to Cortex and who we wanted to attract. We decided on three goals and objectives.
Inform
Keep the tech industry ALIVE with new updates and inform the public about things that are happening.
Express
Integral to Cortexes goals in expressing both themselves and the topics they hold close to heart (and role!)
Inspire
Attract and educate younger audiences to get involved in tech whilst remaining appealing to businesses. Cortex have always been involved in community work.
In addition to enhancing the site's UX, we developed a comprehensive set of brand guidelines, along with UI, animations, and social media assets that reflected the brand's identity. These elements were inspired by gamification interfaces.
TypographyImplemented a monospace font with Camel Case to hint at the techy aspect of what Cortex do.
Easter Eggs & Tone Of VoiceCreated a range of stickers from well-known geek icons, with quotes, which randomly generate in the footer. E.g Arnie’s “Get to the chopper with regular updates!”
Retro is back in styleDesigned a “film screen” to showcase the Alumni of Cortex in a retro style (with room for another meme, obviously)
Colours & AccessibilityExtensively tested colour palette combinations for accessibility and contrast, ensuring alignment with WCAG standards and flexibility in category displays on the homepage.
As avid writers, experimenters and self-proclaimed nerds, they wanted to reflect their inner worlds, the quirkiness of their office culture and the things that made them unique… So, I interviewed them and illustrated their top trumps based on the things they liked the most.
We decided that the final page would shuffle the cards, keeping it interactive and adding a pop of colour (and playfulness) to contrast the otherwise dark website.
We also designed some of the more... ahem... “professional” pages, such as a products page for Cortex to showcase their cutting-edge software, and an education page to highlight the great work they do in their community.
Social Media & Wrap Up