Volvo Group Visual System

As part of an exploratory initiative within Volvo Group's Digital Experience Design (DxD) chapter, I worked on developing concepts for a more consistent and recognizable visual expression beyond the standard Volvo template.

The work was not driven by a formal brief or identified gap, but rather aimed to inspire discussion within the design team around how DxD communication could feel more cohesive and engaging.

I explored a visual system including color, typography, imagery, icons, illustrations, and layout principles, and prototyped how this could be applied in presentation materials. I also tested how AI tools could support generating branded content based on these principles.

The outcome served as inspiration and input to the team's ongoing thinking around design consistency and tooling.

Within the Digital Experience Design (DxD) chapter, most presentation material followed the standard Volvo template. While functional, this meant that communication across the chapter varied and lacked a more cohesive visual expression.

There was a growing informal interest within the team to explore how presentation material and communication could feel more consistent and engaging, but no formal brief, defined objective, or agreed direction had been established. Several presentations existed across the chapter, showing different approaches, but none had been consolidated into a shared visual direction.

As part of an exploratory initiative, I took this as an opportunity to investigate how a more consistent visual expression could look and work in practice, using it as a way to inspire discussion and reflection within the design team.

I began the way most design work starts: research. I benchmarked existing Volvo templates and explored visual directions more broadly, then moved into direction exploration, six directions, starting bold and experimental.

Each direction was tested against Volvo's brand principles and presented for feedback to my mentor and the chapter's visual decision-maker. This wasn't a single round. It took several rounds of presenting, getting pushed back on, adjusting, and presenting again.

Colors. Volvo's existing color system stayed the foundation. On top of it, I added two color scales specific to the chapter, giving DXD presentations a recognizable identity without breaking from Volvo's brand. Rule: one accent color per section, never mixed mid section.

Typography. I explored using different typefaces during the early direction work, but feedback consistently pointed back toward staying close to Volvo's existing style rather than introducing something new. So the final decision was to keep Volvo's existing typefaces and focus the work on writing clear usage rules: one typeface for titles only, the other for everything else, maximum two weights per slide.

Imagery. Two image types: nature for calm backgrounds, people for brand warmth. The connecting rule: the image chosen for a section divider sets the color mood for everything that follows in that section. I built a master prompt for Adobe Firefly so the chapter could generate new images consistent with this style.

Icons. Volvo's library first, custom rounded outline icons generated in Firefly to fill gaps.

Illustrations. A set of hand drawn style illustrations already used by the team, which I worked to extend with AI generated additions that matched the existing visual language.

Layout. A defined set of slide types so designers choose from a known set rather than starting from a blank canvas each time.

Everything above was distilled into a two-page reference guide. I built it because a new designer joining the chapter needed one place to find every rule, without digging through multiple files or asking around. Alongside it, I also wrote a markdown version of the same brand guide, structured specifically so AI tools could read and apply the rules directly.

I scoped the concept, inspired by a structure my chapter's internal AI expert had used elsewhere: a brand guide, a layout template, and a content plan. I then defined the actual rules myself, writing the brand guide content and providing the Volvo template to build from. I worked with an AI assistant to draft the supporting structure, a layout schema and generation script, based on those rules.