Fintech company rebrand

The financial needs around freight transport are complex, far more complicated than most people realize. Literally tons of goods need to get from here to there, which means millions of invoices, payments, collection, and more. Founded in 2017, Axle Payments was created to enable freight brokers to work smarter and grow faster by automating their back office and facilitating the free flow of data and working capital. By helping to digitize the financial infrastructure of freight and logistics, Axle Payments was opening up the cash flow bottleneck that slows down commerce and weakens businesses.

But the company’s founders—two childhood friends passionate about how tech can transform transportation—wanted to do more. They saw beyond truck shipping finance to logistics in other areas, including aviation and rail. And when the pandemic exposed the fragility of today’s supply chains, they began to think about a universal, resilient freight payments network for moving all goods worldwide. This vision required a brand that wasn’t tied to a terrestrial vehicle metaphor. They turned to Catchword for a new name and visual ID.

Axle was built on practical tech by and for real working people, which Denim, the name Catchword developed, encapsulates perfectly. This company and its offerings are versatile and durable, your go-to, a tightly woven fabric of software and services you can trust to get the job done. It is reliable, essential, and universal—and as game-changing as the fabric that made America.

The name is graphically rich, which inspired the denim blue of the new visual identity. The logo starts with a variation on the capital D, with nested shapes that convey collaboration, support, and the ordered complexity that is logistics. The negative space at left forms an arrow, communicating forward motion—both the literal movement of goods and the progress the company enables. The wordmark is simple (all lowercase, sans serif) and stylish, just like blue jeans.

The company announced the rebrand in 2022 following the close of a $126m Series B, The positioning and brand pillars Catchword developed appear verbatim on the new site and are evident throughout the company’s marketing materials.

AWARD WINNER
MUSE Creative Awards, Gold, Corporate Identity Redesign
Hermes Creative Awards, Honorable Mention, Company Branding