Akash Sandeep
is a brand designer & strategist based in Dubai.

Simple Energy: Internal Brand Guideline

Simple Energy was moving fast—from an early-stage startup into a serious industry contender. But its visual identity had not grown at the same pace.

Marketing materials began to feel disconnected. Events lost their recognisable character. Spatial applications changed depending on who was interpreting them. The identity was still there, but it was beginning to bend under the pressure of growth.

Role..........Brand Designer & Researcher
Team..........Design Epithet // Akash Sandeep (Visual Communication Designer) / Nimal Mathew (Film-maker) / Shruti Verma (Experience Designer) / Sandeep Raj (Project Lead)
Location......Bangalore, India

Taking the brand back to first principles

The project began by taking the existing identity apart.

Using a process called the Fundamental Genesis Approach, the assumptions behind how brand guidelines are usually created were questioned. Instead of beginning with references or industry conventions, the work started from first principles—examining what the system needed to do, who would use it and how it should behave across different environments.

There was also one deliberate constraint: no Googling — and obviously no AI.

The aim was to avoid familiar answers and rebuild the framework from the ground up. Rather than producing a static rulebook, the project developed a shared visual language for how the brand communicates, moves through space, connects with riders and expands into new markets.

Built to change: An Evolving Brand Guideline

Simple Energy needed more than a cleaner set of rules. It needed a framework that could bring the brand back into alignment without restricting what it could become. Most guidelines are designed to preserve a fixed identity. But for a company still changing, too much rigidity can quickly become another limitation.

The question became:
How do you build a brand system that stays recognisable without becoming fixed?

The guidelines were designed as a living framework, allowing new teams, environments and markets to extend the identity while preserving its core character.

The magnetic book became a physical expression of that idea. More than a binding solution, it reflected the belief that brands are assembled, adjusted and reshaped as they grow.