People-Powered Design

Inspired by each new Airbnb Experience Host, we would turn Airbnb's brand identity into one that celebrates their individual passions and interests.

Considering integration into the app and the increasing mobile-first quality of the audience, all posters and videos were executed in vertical format so that assets could be leveraged seamlessly across the Airbnb app and shared within social apps. Allowing the mood of each Host and their Experience to come through in the poster and trailer, we leveraged a wide selection of custom typography and photography styles. We launched with over 360+ posters and trailers and continue to make hundreds to date as the business continues to grow. In addition to custom branding each Experience, as a supplement to the brand color palette, we introduced sets of gradients derived from the existing brand colors.

We successfully created 360 completely unique brand identities as well as a style guide including new principles around gradient color, photography, typography, and messaging for the launch of Trips in November 2016. By providing consistent verbal and visual messaging, we set a new record for Airbnb’s marketing benchmarks with over 79 million impressions - doubling Airbnb’s previous earned media record, and PR coverage about the launch of Trips totaled 2,710 media hits. Overall, this led to 1.3 million Trips-related searches (demonstrating interest) and 955 thousand visits to the new Trips page.

First, we worked hand-in-hand with Airbnb product design and marketing teams to develop a holistic brand identity that would suit the brand as its product became its marketing. Airbnb is a community-driven brand, so we took a fully custom approach and worked closely with each host to develop their brand identity with them. Aiming to make each host’s identity akin to Hollywood a star, we decided to make each a cinematic trailers & posters. Next, we struck a balance between custom and foundation principles. While we took a custom approach to each trailer and poster, we set parameters around the foundational principles of each of these deliverable to ensure consistency across the board. Further, the introduction of Experiences, meant Airbnb evolving from a day to night brand. We would introduce new color treatments and a messaging framework to suit this evolution.

Since 2008 Airbnb has transformed where people stay when they travel through people-powered hospitality. With the launch of Airbnb’s Trips platform, Airbnb evolved from homes to end-to-end travel, and took the same people-focused approach to the rest of the trip. As part of Trips, Airbnb launched with 500 Experiences in 12 cities worldwide. These locally-hosted Experiences enable travellers to truly experience a destination’s culture through activities, access to hotspots and experts, and full-city guidebooks. Airbnb Experiences redefine how the world travels, providing a continuous way to live like an insider. For the launch of this new product, we needed to make Airbnb’s product design and marketing less about Airbnb, and more about the passion-driven Airbnb Hosts who make each Experience possible.