The Challenge KPN is more than a telecom provider, it’s a cultural touchstone in the Netherlands, a brand that touches millions of lives daily. Over a three-year period, our task was to adapt, evolve, and implement a coherent visual language across every touchpoint: from logo iterations and in-store materials to internal documents and digital assets.
This wasn’t a single project; it was a long-term strategic effort to ensure the KPN brand remains consistent, flexible, and future-ready, even as it expands across new channels and contexts.
Strategic Insight Consistency is more than visual alignment, it’s about trust. Every interaction, whether a loading screen, a sim card, or an in-app icon, shapes perception.
KPN had already embraced a ‘digital-first’ philosophy, meaning the green used in printed materials needed to feel coherent with their online presence. The challenge was defining boundaries: how far could the logo stretch across different backgrounds? Could the wordmark flex without losing its identity? How could a single design system scale across hundreds of assets?
Creative Approach
Logo & Wordmark Exploration: Multiple iterations, experiments with colored backgrounds, and careful testing to ensure the KPN logo always reads clearly, even without a payoff tagline.
Asset Development: Hundreds of bespoke elements were created, sim cards, ID-chains, phone covers, signage, welcome screens, error screens, storyboards for animations, explainer videos, in-app icons, each carefully integrated into the system.
Illustration & Iconography: Over 200 illustrated icons were developed, expanding the green spectrum with fresh, vibrant tones while remaining unmistakably KPN. Every icon was designed to work online, in apps, and in explanatory animations, ensuring consistency across mediums.
System Flexibility: Regular review cycles ensured the brand could evolve with each new project, keeping the system flexible yet cohesive.
Execution & Experience Rather than creating isolated elements, the work was approached as a living system. Each asset, from loading screens to phone covers, feeds back into the broader brand ecosystem. This iterative, careful approach allowed the green carpet to roll out seamlessly across every touchpoint, reinforcing recognition and trust.
Impact & Significance
Cohesive Brand Across Channels: Despite the complexity and volume of assets, the brand holds together visually and conceptually.
Future-Ready System: The flexible design framework ensures that KPN can continue evolving for years to come.
Cultural Resonance: Every icon, color tweak, and screen was designed to feel like part of the KPN universe, familiar, reliable, and human.
Scale Without Compromise: From internal documents to public-facing interfaces, the brand system scales without losing clarity or personality.
In Short Three years of iterative work, hundreds of assets, and countless experiments have evolved KPN into a visually coherent, digitally forward, and human-centered brand. What might seem like small adjustments, a wordmark tweak, a new icon, a shade of green, collectively ensure KPN continues to connect with people, across every channel, every device, every moment.
