When Artupia came to us with their brief, we were excited by their big point of difference - the action of giving art valuation to the people. More than a mere transaction, we created a community, a space to share inspiration and to covet what we own. Using a frame to capture self-expression and the sticker to show appreciation, we adopted the recognised visuals from the art world.

We also created a typeface using that which is most unique to the artist, their signature. Using the first letter from each signature to craft a distinct monogram, it is a typeface so organic that it’s always evolving as more and more artists join. We became an Army of Artists, brought to life in a brand.

This brand is all about cutting through all the barriers, elitism, stickiness of the establishment and making art live in a bold new way: for all.

The digital typeface lives online and is recommended for primarily digital use. We initiated the typeface by asking Artupia artists to sign their name, we extracted the first letter and created a wholly unique character from it. The first cut of ‘Army of Artists’ typeface was crafted and then released on 8th February 2017. Since then further cuts have been released, automatically using a custom built generator through the Artupia site.

We also helped determine UX and UI for the App and website, developed the look and feel and elements for the brand, and suggested ways to recruit artists and reach new audiences through brand activations and social media strategies including #artupiaoftheday where each day we feature a piece of art from Artupia and put it in the spotlight – championing both the specific artwork but also the artist.

New Website hits: 38.410

App downloads: 701

App views on the app store: 1.301

New Instagram followers: 1.480

New registered users: 1001

New artworks: 421

New Sales: 38

Facebook page reach: 609.565

Alberto Lina, Artupia CEO commented: “It was clear from the beginning that the team believed in our mission and ambition and this is reflected in our iconic new brand. The digital experience brings to life our mission for the project – art for all. We are really excited to see our community of art lovers grow through the clever, impactful brand activations developed.”

With all artists globally as our target we wanted to create a space for people to come together to see art in a new way. Our strategy was to take art for all and make it tangible for everyone. We created an online campaign, hosted on Artupia’s site which focussed on two angles.

The artfill adblocker used to drive users to the website, a free browser extension that allows everyone to block undesired advertising and exchange it with contemporary artworks. Really is art for all.

And the Army or Artists typeface, which bring artists into the heart of the brand, making it theirs as much as it the buyers and collectors. Everyone can buy and sell directly, and even better if a collector wants to resell the artist gets a cut of the sale. Our strategy is to be inclusive and empowering, for everyone.

What if we completely changed how art was valued? So it was valued not by the elite, the gallerists and critics, but by the people. In real time. Using an algorithm at the heart of its brand, Artupia is the online marketplace that gives the power of art valuation to everyone. A value is set and the only thing that makes it go up or down is the actions of the people. If they like, buy and share- the value rises.

Our brief was to create a brand that brought the idea of art valued by all to life and our objective was to build awareness for a new brand in the category.

We developed a full brand identity system, helped to determine the UX and UI of both app and website and created brand activations and social media strategies. This project was a pro-bono so there was no budget.