The Next-Gen of CRM

Marketing campaign

Next Gen CRM was a multi-format campaign built around a simple challenge: how do you present 50+ perspectives without it turning into a wall of text or a messy collage of assets.

The work spanned a manifesto landing page, a portrait series for every contributor, a week on the NASDAQ MarketSite billboard in Times Square, and a full set of supporting web and social assets.

Defining the portrait style

We knew early that photography would be the wrong constraint. People often don’t want to share headshots, and when they do, quality and style varies a lot. With 50+ contributors, the result would either look inconsistent or require heavy manual cleanup. So we chose illustrated portraits instead: one consistent style, one level of craft, and a visual identity that could scale.

The goal wasn’t generic editorial illustration or a Notion-style approach. We wanted something unique to the campaign, but still aligned with Attio’s core brand.

Jonny Ruzzo's portraits

We shortlisted three illustrators and asked each for quick sketch previews of two contributors, so we could test how the style sits with the brand, typography, and layout, and whether it could hold up across a large set.

Jonny Ruzzo’s style fit immediately. The hand-drawn portraits added a human touch to Attio’s blueprint lines, and the charcoal texture felt slightly outlaw but still clean. It brought character without fighting the system, and the portrait language became part of Attio’s visual toolkit going forward.

Introducing a serif font

Alongside the portraits, we explored a range of serif options. It was a challenge, since the type had to complement both Attio’s bold logo and the existing Inter system.

The goal was to add warmth to an otherwise very technical brand. We landed on Tiempos because it has personality and feels human, without leaning too nostalgic or overly decorative.

We also kept its role intentionally narrow: Tiempos is used as a small, complementary accent alongside Inter, adding a more premium finish without taking over the system.

Alongside the portraits, we explored a range of serif options. It was a challenge, since the type had to complement both Attio’s bold logo and the existing Inter system.

The goal was to add warmth to an otherwise very technical brand. We landed on Tiempos because it has personality and feels human, without leaning too nostalgic or overly decorative.

We also kept its role intentionally narrow: Tiempos is used as a small, complementary accent alongside Inter, adding a more premium finish without taking over the system.

Pairing test draft

New visuals for AI

We wanted a visual cue for AI that felt optimistic and modern, not the usual sparkle shortcut. After testing a few directions, we landed on shiny pixels: a modular pattern that suggests processing and computation which Alex K. brought to life with animation.

To keep it tied to Attio, we matched the palette to the rainbow tags used for AI moments in the product. We tried a softer holographic treatment first, but it wasn’t visible enough across backgrounds and sizes, so we switched to a clearer rainbow version. The intent was for this to become a reusable AI motif beyond this campaign.

Billboard layout

The NASDAQ MarketSite screen came with very real constraints. It’s not a clean rectangle, and the usable area is split by window breaks, so the layout had to be designed around gaps rather than “fitted into” a canvas. Instead of fighting that, we saw an opportunity to use the breaks as part of the design, almost like they were built into the pixel grid.

We treated shiny pixels as a background system at a larger scale and lower density, then built a quote layout that snaps to the screen’s structure. Each slot featured two quotes, paced to read quickly, with simple transitions and a logo beat between them so it felt active on the board while staying consistent with the rest of the campaign.

Outcome

The final system made 50+ voices feel like one coherent story across every placement. Illustrated portraits solved the asset problem at scale, and paired with Tiempos they added the human layer we were missing.

Both the portrait style and Tiempos proved strong enough to carry beyond this launch and became part of Attio’s core brand, showing up across the website, campaigns, and other marketing assets.

The campaign itself landed well, and the portraits in particular gave contributors something they actually wanted to share on their socials.