InterSystems creates software and technology for industries too crucial to fail: healthcare, banking, government, and more. Throughout our longstanding relationship with the company, we’ve been fortunate to partner on a wide range of projects, from global campaigns to major productions for live tentpole events.
In 2019, InterSystems came to us with a new ask: it needed a campaign aimed squarely at developers. The goal was to pique their curiosity about InterSystems’s IRIS Data Platform, used for rapidly developing and deploying important applications. The company wanted developers to try the platform and recommend it to their organizations.
InterSystems needed to strike a different tone than it takes when addressing C-suite decision makers; developers tend to be younger, hands-on learners who love experimenting with new tools and languages. This campaign had to speak their language.
Godfrey Dadich looked for a fresh, contemporary visual approach to strike the right note. We landed on the idea of a modular grid layout—a nod to developers’ work with the grids used in responsive design—to build pages to fit different devices. The grid system is adjustable and adaptable to any aspect ratio. We used thick black lines and color blocks to reference the work of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, and the graphics we chose hint at Pop Art—visual elements that lend a striking look.
One facet of Godfrey Dadich’s longstanding relationship with InterSystems: in 2019, we created a bold campaign designed to pique the interest of developers and entice them to try the IRIS Data Platform.
We dubbed the campaign “Ready. Set. Code.” and focused the copy on IRIS’s agility and speed: “You can develop faster. Make decisions faster. Get support faster.” Video executions brought the grid to life with dynamic movement.
This campaign—with its vivid color palette, bold lines, and thick type weights—was a departure from InterSystems’s traditional design language, which tends toward delicate type weights and a sparer visual approach. And yet InterSystems loved it—and asked us to weave this approach deeper into its brand.
The campaign referenced the work of Piet Mondrian by using thick black lines and pops of color.
Since “Ready. Set. Code.”, we’ve adapted a similar look and feel into other campaigns, including “Ready. Set. Solve.”, which targeted business decision makers to position IRIS as the data platform purpose-built to solve today’s biggest financial, healthcare, and public services challenges. This time, instead of using abstract graphics, we used photography to illustrate scenes from the various industries that InterSystems supports.
We brought our new visual system to life again at InterSystems’s Virtual Summit 2020. As the company’s annual conference for partners and prospective partners went virtual for the first time amid the COVID-19 pandemic, our grid appeared throughout the event: in presentations, in videos broadcast to virtual attendees, and in a virtual event landing page.
“Ready. Set. Code.” inspired other campaigns with a similar look and feel. InterSystems’s Virtual Summit 2020 used the signature grid and styling in presentations, videos, and online.
Starting with “Ready. Set. Code.”, we built a flexible design system and a cohesive brand look that is adaptable to InterSystems’s diverse businesses and scalable across different branded touchpoints, from online ads to events signage to video. Our work with InterSystems is a reminder that one campaign can turn into something much bigger, and can even inspire a company to roll out a fresh new look and feel for its brand.