Citrix

Citrix delivers digital workspace solutions that help organizations improve employee experience and unlock human potential — wherever work needs to get done. Its platform brings experience, IT flexibility, and security together to foster innovation, resilience, and business continuity. From enabling sustainable, remote work and in-office models to streamlining the journey to multi-cloud, Citrix helps businesses adapt to constant change so people can do their very best work. Founded in 1989, Citrix has found new resonance in the age of cloud computing and the distributed workforce. To date, Citrix serves more than 100 million users across 400,000 organizations, including 98% of the Fortune 500. In 2019, with a slew of energetic competitors (from Slack to Salesforce to Dropbox) nipping at its heels, Citrix came to Athletics with a remarkable challenge: how can we drive adoption as we shift from being a tech provider to being a strategic partner focused on the entire employee experience?

Answering that call over the following year and a half demanded a fundamental transformation of the Citrix brand identity from the ground up, from brand strategy to sonic branding. But the solution went so much deeper: in the process, we forged an entirely new belief system and self-conception for the decades-old company. It all began with a year-long strategic effort led by Paul Worthington, Principal at Invencion, a strategy consultancy and longtime partner of Athletics. After 50 interviews with stakeholders from across Citrix’s global network, a series of workshops, and close collaborative effort with the Citrix Executive Leadership team, we landed on a strategic premise based on the idea that “the future of work is the space to succeed.”

All subsequent work stemmed from the core idea that the full potential of individuals and businesses can only be realized when they’re given ample space to be more creative and innovative at work. Translating this strategic notion into the realm of design, we crafted a brand identity that’s truly human, truly multi-sensory, and truly reflective of the way we work today — and tomorrow. In the case of the new wordmark, perhaps the brand’s most identifiable signifier, we shifted the dot from the “i” to hover over the “x,” thereby symbolizing Citrix’s unflinching focus on the individual. To reinforce the rich humanity of the new brand, a stable of new and ever-changing compact marks based on this new “x” form reflects the remarkable diversity of Citrix’s global community.

Across strategy, design, brand writing, digital experience, and virtual events we sought to elevate the IQ and EQ (emotional intelligence) of the Citrix brand. This transcended the visual experience to the full range of senses, a promise fulfilled via a series of world-class creative partnerships. The new brand identity incorporates a whimsical custom illustration voice created in partnership with illustrator Matt Blease; custom 3D graphics created in partnership with digital design studio Colors and the Kids; custom sonic and audio tracks created in partnership with electronic artist, Simon Pyke; and a brand film created in partnership with creative production studio, Buck. Finally, digital experience agency Huge is responsible for a global campaign titled “You’re made for bigger things,” utilizing the brand strategy and brand identity. With this dream-team in its corner, Citrix is perfectly positioned to build permission with new and existing customers, and cement its position as the intelligent workspace that gives you space.