Minimalist branding for authority in the payroll sphere

We worked with Salsa to refresh and expand their brand, as well as create a new, more complete website that spoke to all the potential companies that could benefit from their technology.

Gone are the old days of clunky payroll. Salsa is a software company that allows SaaS, workforce management, and staffing platforms to quickly and easily embed a customized payroll product.

They’re overhauling the old, burdensome methods of payroll to help these platforms provide a more complete service to their customers and grow their revenue.

How can we refresh Salsa’s brand to inspire trust in users and position them as an authority in the payroll space?

Salsa has their offering locked down and an expert team to back it up: Professionals with over 100 years of combined experience who have already built world-class payroll products. This is why they knew that in order to establish their new company in the payroll space, they needed a clean, modern, innovative brand that would generate trust in potential customers and help them stand out from other providers, many of which don’t offer all the benefits and features that Salsa does.

The team had the building blocks of a great brand–A basis of a logo and a vision for their extended branding. The challenge was creating a single, cohesive identity from the two main characteristics of Salsa’s personality: Professionalism and innovation. Most importantly, the Salsa team wanted to keep it minimal to express that their product is super easy to integrate, unlike many former payroll products.

Building a modern, minimalist brand that reflects Salsa’s innovation and professionalism simultaneously.

By following our tried-and-true branding process, we were able to nail down exactly the visual elements that would reflect Salsa accurately.

1. Brand Narrative Workshop

In our custom, brand-sprint-brand-story hybrid workshop, we defined Salsa’s personality, particularly in the personality slider activity. The team defined their brand as serious, authoritative, and reserved, while also young and innovative. While this may seem like an oxymoron, it actually reflects Salsa’s offering perfectly: A groundbreaking product backed by a team that means business.

2. Moodboards

Based on the conclusions of our workshop, the design team began to create moodboards based on different anchoring concepts behind Salsa, creating collages of visual inspiration for each one. The Salsa team chose the moodboard based on the concept of flexibility: Circles representing units of code, connected by sleek lines representing infrastructure

3. Brand Production Rounds

When it came to actually defining Salsa’s brand, our own flexibility was put to the test: Our first attempts were too playful and the color palette too lively. With some clever adjustments, we were able to get to a brand identity that the Salsa team really felt represented them: A super-limited color palette with minimalistic illustrations that represented code, connection, simplicity, and flexibility.

A polished new brand as simple as embedding payroll with Salsa

We delivered Salsa’s new brand in the form of a Brandbook: A guide that lays out all the essential branded elements like the logo, color palette, typography, and illustrations, along with instructions for use. Although we knew that we would go on to design the website ourselves, this asset makes it so that Salsa can continue designing branded elements for years to come, whether we’re involved or not.

With their new branding, Salsa was ready to launch the new way of payroll to the world and stand out from the crowd.