Expression & identity for 3 billion users.
Overview
Facebook is one of the most-used digital products in the world, fueling billions of interactions between millions of people every single day. Over the past three years, Free Association has been an integrated partner driving a systematic approach to creating brand expressions within iconography, illustration, data visualization, motion and more. Our approach has taken internal teams from production to product-led thinking, allowing Facebook to amplify their brand in new ways while solving key product challenges along the way.
Services
- Product Leadership
- Strategic Planning
- Project Management
- Motion Design
- Illustration
- User Experience Design
- UI & Visual Design
- Brand Systems & Guidelines
- Art Direction
- Prototyping
Working alongside Facebook’s Visual System team, we’ve focused on elevating key aspects of the product experience through the lens of brand, leading design and production for multiple releases of expressive and animation-rich features like reactions and reshares.
Beyond expression, we worked closely with internal teams to design a system of visual signals to communicate user identity, contextualize content, and foster trust in communities across high-visibility surfaces on the platform.
Framework
We conducted an audit and synthesized opportunities to elevate signals on the social platform. We then worked with a cross-functional product team to craft a strategic framework to organize the many levels of user identity into a hierarchical set of tiers.
Verification
We worked with the Facebook Integrity team to codify the language of verification on the platform, comprising a new “verified” badge design, and a secondary set of authenticity signals to support surface-specific use cases.
Identifiers
We designed a multi-level iconography system, and collaborated on label color and display logic for a system of identifiers including community roles and content signals.
Awards
We designed a visual system for celebrating contribution and fostering positive behavior within communities, integrated into key surfaces including Live, Watch, Groups, Marketplace, and Feed.
"Partnering with FA has been incredible, no matter the challenge. They always deliver with care and with unparalleled creativity."
In the early phases of the Covid-19 pandemic, Facebook worked to combat misinformation and bring clear, objective information to its global user base. We built a kit of data-visualization components for use in the Covid-19 Information Hub, that featured a range of chart and table styles.
