Cynoia
Axis 01
A window into the product
Communicate the new features more thoroughly, then embrace the product's own design system. Social and product felt like two different brands; the work was to make them one.
Cynoia
Africa's leading collaboration platform had different visual directions between marketing and product. I made sure every channel told the same story.
Cynoia is a collaboration platform that makes actual work the only thing that matters. It eliminates the app-to-app hovering that gets in the way of productivity.
By the time I joined, Cynoia had secured $930,000 in funding, was finalizing the launch of its V2 platform, and was planning expansion across Africa (Senegal, Ivory Coast).
01 - The Problem
Potential users were deprived of any visibility on the app
Unless they had used Cynoia before, people had no idea what it looked like. The social media wasn't communicating the strength of the product clearly.
So leaving the tool you already have to hop onto a new app felt like a huge risk, no matter how many pain points it solved.
Redesigning social media around progressive disclosure and trust
This gives the sales team authority with clients. Deals close faster when people already have an overview of the company's value before the first conversation.
02 - Confrontation
The problem was established. The solution wasn't as obvious: the vision needed an accurate medium.
There were two axes that needed to be addressed.
Axis 02
Speak to customers, not at them
Lean into the core values that got Cynoia where it is:
- Customer proximity and relatability
- Flexibility in the workplace
- Africa's culture and reality
A matter of perspective
Management held conflicting visions of how things should be done
Solutions aren't found at the extremes. The first compromise was a middle ground that takes both points into account.
Main inspirations: Semrush and Notion.
One view
Humorous posts come at the expense of the serious, professional image we want for the brand.
The other
Dropping the modern style destroys our uniqueness and detaches the users we attracted.
Informative content
Clear, thorough communication of the product and what each new feature actually does.
Humorous and engaging content
Relatable, witty posts that speak the audience's language without letting go of the product.
Then a second challenge: speed in tech
With new additions to the marketing team, we had the means to produce more. That raised a dilemma: speed, or excellence of execution.
If we slow down
Post inconsistently and we lose our momentum.
If we rush
Post for the sake of posting and we lose the audience and the traction we'd built.
The compromise
Templates for recurrent posts
Templates for repetitive posts freed up time for brainstorming and stronger content. I built them, then trained the social media manager and handed her the assets to run with.
As a result,
We were producing high-quality reels, consistently.
It got to a point where people wanted to collaborate with us for the production quality alone. Some companies even approached us to train their own marketing teams on communicating their product better.
Sales enablement content
Blog covers
Motion Videos
Cynoia at GITEX Africa
Showing up at GITEX to promote the product is a big event. The challenge was to fold in GITEX's brand without compromising ours.
This event also allowed me to create some cool print designs along the way.
