Formation’s proprietary platform leverages continual insights into each customer interaction to make subsequent offers smarter and more effective. This approach enables brands to create and deliver unique customer experiences that drive business results and foster deeper relationships with their customers.
As a Co-Founder and Principal Designer, I led all aspects of our design execution from branding and marketing design to user research, product design and client-facing creative direction. During our incubation phase I played a critical role in helping to secure our $30m Series A by helping to hone our vision, designing the prototype platform, and designing our presentation deck. As we grew, I spearheaded the design effort for our flagship product offering which drove more than $1b of incremental value for the Starbucks loyalty program.
Formation is a startup focused on providing 1:1 offer personalization for elite brands. I created the brand identity and led the design effort for the flagship product which drove over $1b in incremental revenue.
Branding
The Formation branding project was the third rebrand I did for the company. The initial branding (Somatix) was more of a codename that was hobbled together quickly but the previous branding and brand name (TAKT) had gained a fair bit of momentum. Unfortunately another company had developed a product with a similar name and had sent their lawyers after us. It was clear that the contender had no trademark and little ground to stand on but the choice was made to avoid litigation and acquiesce the request to abandon the name.
It was a tough blow. A substantial amount of work had gone into the development of the branding for TAKT and it was daunting to have to rebuild the brand from the ground up.
I made the decision early on that I would make the most of the opportunity and do what I could to up-level the branding.
Here’s an overview of some of that work:
Website Design
The Formation website (formation.ai) has been overhauled since I left the company in 2021 but here are a few screenshots of the original design:
Presentation Design
A small sample of the presentation design work I did while at Formation.
These images are from a presentation given at Shoptalk. The design features a bold and modern aesthetic with minimal text and eye-caching imagery.
These slides are a sample from the presentation I designed to describe our offering to new clients.
Product Design
I led the product design effort for our prototype, v1 and v2 product offering. The platform has created more than $1b of incremental value to the Starbucks loyalty program alone.
What I Did
Collaborated on company vision
Developed the branding
Site design
Sales & marketing design
Discovery & user research
Feature concepting & ideation
Comprehensive product UI/UX design
Design system development
Cross functional collaboration
Series A deck design
Board meeting deck design
Presentation deck templatization
Client facing creative services
Offer UI/UX design
Product operations & support
Team building
Design team management
Company swag
Highlights
$30 million led by BCG Digital Ventures & Starbucks
Sent over 10 billion unique offers
Achieved 10x increase in operational efficiency
Generated over $1 billion in incremental revenue
Acquired by BCG in August 2022
Testimonial
"Ryan was an awesome co-founder and business partner. He brought a remarkable level of passion, talent, and commitment every day. Whether he was designing a brand, developing a new product, or creating a new customer experience, Ryan always delivered insightful and creative designs that brought together the company's values and strategy with a thoughtful aesthetic. And he did so at an incredible pace. I thoroughly enjoyed working with him."
— Christian Selchau-Hansen, Co-founder & CEO, Formation
