FASTLY

Fastly is a global leader in content delivery and edge cloud computing, dedicated to helping companies build faster, more secure, and user-friendly apps—all while prioritizing speed and safety to enhance online experiences worldwide.

In 2022, after 12 years in the game, Fastly reached out to Big Human for a rebrand and website overhaul. I contributed to Fastly’s transformation through research and brand strategy, helping to balance its well-known reliability with a fresh, dynamic personality that would appeal to new and loyal customers alike.

Early in our Discovery phase, we noted the essential brand elements that Fastly stakeholders considered non-negotiable: its logo, iconic primary color, and company values. With these as our foundation, we conducted a competitive analysis to see how Fastly could differentiate itself from similar companies in the industry. Our findings confirmed our hunch from the beginning: Fastly’s vibrant red gave it an edge over competitors, and for the brand to stand out, it needed to lean into its dynamic character by bringing a colorful energy to its visual design language.

Interestingly, striking that careful balance between the new and the familiar proved to be our greatest challenge throughout our year-long engagement. There were a lot of pieces of the Fastly brand we couldn’t touch—that was for sure. But there were still plenty of areas where we could add a creative spin. A key step in our rebranding process was translating what we learned about Fastly and its values into internal brand pillars that would help inform all things messaging, design, and product experience. With these pillars in place, I led the development of messaging frameworks crafted to resonate with diverse audiences in the field, from developers to enterprise leaders. 

While I verbally brought these brand attributes to life, my colleagues did so visually. Our talented team of designers ensured Fastly’s brand felt cohesive and accessible across all touchpoints, pairing bold primary and secondary colors with neutrals for accessibility, choosing typography and visuals that adapt seamlessly across international markets, and restructuring the website architecture to simplify navigation. The refreshed icons, illustrations, and diagrams made complex information digestible, all of which reinforced Fastly’s goal of becoming a streamlined, globally resonant brand.

By the project’s end, we handed off a comprehensive set of guidelines to ensure Fastly’s internal teams could carry forward the vision we’d set in motion. The new Fastly.com launched in November 2023, marking a confident step into the brand’s next chapter.

Roles:
-Research
-Strategy
-Positioning
-Messaging

Agency: Big Human