Digital document library Scribd rebrands in bid to propel growth

A sub-brand of Scribd Inc, Scribd exists alongside ebooks and audiobooks platform Everand and professional content platform SlideShare. Independent branding and design studio Mother Design was called on to launch a new global identity for the brand, just as it had already done for Everand.

Hosting over 200 million documents, Scribd exists as a digital library platform where users can find and upload content. Following a successful identity overhaul for Everand in 2023, Mother Design has now done the same thing for its sister brand.

The project centred around explaining the idea that Scribd democratises information. The branding and design studio therefore crafted an identity that exudes emotion and lets its customers know that Scribd’s benefits extend beyond the mere functional.

‘The Source. Life is an essay, and we are its bibliography’ is the new brand platform, allowing Scribd to communicate all the learning and understanding it can offer, as opposed to surface-level skimming.

This is evidenced in the visual identity, which leans away from ‘bright, graphic-inspired heavy identities’ that have become a cliché for tech firms. Instead, Scribd’s new look is directly inspired by physical archives and libraries, as underlined by the creation of a warm and tactile colour palette that includes green and soft earthy pastels. Elsewhere, the thick, sans-serif lettered wordmark keeps to the literary theme, and is housed inside square brackets that evoke source lists.

Jo Tulej, creative director at Mother Design, says, “Scribd is a tool used by millions daily, with a content library of over 200 million documents. It offers a wealth of information, yet its incredible drive for knowledge sharing and discovery has often been overshadowed by a functional branding approach.

“In our collaboration with the Scribd team, we’ve created a brand positioning that encourages deeper understanding rather than hot takes, borrowing visual cues from physical archives and libraries. The new identity imagines Scribd as life’s bibliographer – a platform that gives people much-needed context to truly understand the big and small of everyday life.”