Lief
startup identity
Kiln's involvement began with the name, the logo, the colours and the type, then widened into documents, 3D assets and animation, and finally into the product. Screens were drawn first in Adobe XD, later in Figma, and the prototypes are now built in code, the tools changing across four years of it. All of that came out of the same identity, while the company moved from fundraising for charities to EHCP support for teachers.
- Location
- United Kingdom
- Year
- 2022 to 2026
- Scale
- Practice
- Role
- Direct
The identity
Three home pages. One identity across three businesses: a fundraising platform for charities, a family practice of noticing the good, and the tracking of EHCP outcomes for pupils with special educational needs.
Through every turn
The identity had to keep working while the company changed what it was. It began as a way for local businesses to fund local charities, became a platform for schools to recognise the character and contribution that grades leave out, and now leads with software for tracking EHCP outcomes for pupils with special educational needs. Each turn was drawn out of the same world, the same colours, type and objects. The fundraising tools are still in the platform behind the newer ones, which is what makes the moves read as alignment rather than abandonment, and the founding aim, to make a difference at scale, never moved. The category icons carry their own ground, a disc of sky and a base beneath the object, so they sit on any page the platform or its documents put them on, and stay useful wherever the company goes next.
The world
The world. Scenes drawn for the website and the decks, each standing for a word: off grid, safe, transparent, cutting edge, discover.
The website
Into the product
The design went all the way into the product. The screens carry the same system as the decks and the site, drawn first in Adobe XD, then Figma, now built in code, and the EHCP module was designed screen by screen against what a SENCo has to produce: a log, a plan, an overview, and the evidence for the annual review. In the last four months the conversations changed. The people doing the job were surprised that something so specific to it existed, and more so on learning its makers were not from their world.
Outcome
Lief is a revenue-generating business. The platform is live in UK schools, with evidence of pupils' personal development being generated every day, and the Lief Home app is in public testing and expected to launch soon.