For The People

Mux

Encouraging art and play in coding.

Whether we’re attending meetings or music festivals, video has become integrated into our everyday lives — particularly in a post-pandemic world. But building online video experiences is far from simple. For developers, the process is time-consuming, costly and incredibly complex.

Mux created a product to change this. Founded by developers with a background in video start-ups, Mux provides a sophisticated platform for building video experiences. With just a few powerful lines of code, developers can build easily, efficiently and intuitively on top of Mux’s existing infrastructure, as well as monitor the performance of their videos through detailed metrics. The platform has been used by the likes of Vimeo, TED, Paramount and the Super Bowl. Now, with their status as tech unicorn firmly established, Mux reached out to For The People to bring their brand up to speed.

Technology Brand Strategy Brand Idenity Brand Voice Illustration Web Design Motion Design

Built to Play

To become the tech unicorn they are today, Mux needed to focus their attention on creating and promoting their sophisticated product. But like so many in technology categories, Mux had fallen into the trap of confusing their brand with generic product attributes like ‘simplification’ and ‘ease.’ This approach had reinforced the beliefs of ‘DIY developers’, who saw platforms like Mux to be either too restrictive or entirely redundant. After engaging with the developer community, it was clear that the sector had been sending the wrong message. Developers aren’t simply pragmatic builders — they’re inherently creative people, who view code as a source of possibility and find joy in the complexity of their craft. Seen this way, the value of Mux is less about simplicity or ease, and more about equipping developers with the tools to create something truly distinct. Where others fixate on products, Mux had an opportunity to celebrate the outcomes of harnessing a platform that’s Built to Play.

“Developers aren’t simply pragmatic builders — they’re inherently creative people, who view code as a source of possibility and find joy in the complexity of their craft.”

The building blocks

Behind the scenes of every video, there’s a world of intricate engineering and complex code. But for most of us, this world is invisible. The design system reveals the inner workings of video, starting with its smallest processing unit — the macroblock. This 16x16 grid is robust, reliable and infinitely scalable. But most importantly, it’s a tool that’s built for play. With icons, illustrations and a palette that ranges from neutrals to neons, the system combines strong infrastructure with playful elements throughout. It breaks down the walls between code and creativity, showing them instead as two complementary forces at play.

Programming. Only this time, it’s personal

Across the category, the promise to be ‘for developers’ often translated into jargon-heavy tech speak. Mux had an opportunity to redefine this one-dimensional view of their audience and show that a technical product doesn’t mean an impersonal approach. Their brand voice balances the sophistication of their technology, with the spirit of playfulness inherent to both Mux and their audience. It demonstrates the tangible value of their intangible product, by sharing the moments that occur after we press play. From football matches to first dances — Mux brings the functionality of code and the emotion of storytelling together.

“Rebranding in 2022, Mux found itself with the unique challenge of showing up as fun and relatable to developers, and equally strong and reliable for our larger customers. This balance is so tricky to establish and maintain, but FTP hit the nail right on the head, and we couldn’t be happier with the work they’ve done.”

— Linda Eliasen, VP Brand Design, Mux

Don’t fux with the code

Developers are naturally attuned to detail. For code to run properly, there can’t be a single symbol out of place. With a highly functional product, Mux’s new identity needed to accurately represent their technology and above all, be practical to use. From code formatting, to a crowd-sourced typeface — Mux is made for their developer community. But a functional product should still be fun. In place of static blocks of script, the identity brings moments of joy and interactivity to diagrams, dashboards and docs. Respect the craft, elevate the product, and uphold the promise of play. This was the code we lived by.

Make play possible

While Mux mainly exists on a screen, their playful internal culture was stronger than ever. We wanted to capture this spirit and let it spill out into the world. By blending the digital and analog space together, the identity brings their intangible product to life. Whether its conference materials, merchandise, or a company guide to longboard jousting — Mux makes play possible, both on our screens and out in the world.

Credits

Recognition

A big thank you to the team at Mux – including Linda, Rob, Darius, Staci, Jason, Joe, Mo, Rachel, Matthew and Steve – for never hesitating to push play.    

We're in awe of what you've built, and we're appreciate you trusting us to add a few blocks of our own to the stack.

Strategy
Damian Borchok, Claudia Henderson

Storytelling
Mat Groom, Arielle Bodenstein

Design
Jo Roca, Patrick Carroll, Emma Turney, Dash O’Brien-Georgeson, Joseph Dennis, Mac Archibald, Atsaya Gabiryalpillai

Account
Monique Tadrous

Illustration
Dash O’Brien-Georgeson

Typefaces
Rotonto – Marcello Raffo in collaboration with Supernulla
Aeonik – CoType Foundry
JetBrains Mono – Philipp Nurullin

Awards  
AGDA Awards  
Merit – Branding Large Business    

Best Design Awards   
Bronze – Large Brand Identity    

Brand Impact Awards  
Silver – Technology & Telecoms

Further Reading
The Ingredients of a Devtool Rebrand  
Linda Eliasen, Mux

Featured
It’s Nice That
Brand New

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FOR THE CODERS

Acknowledgement of Country

The For The People team are spread across the world – but the majority of us currently live on the land known most commonly today as “Australia”.   This land has been home to designers, artists, storytellers and planners for tens-of-thousands of years – so our time contributing to these crafts constitutes only a near-infinitesimally small fraction of that history.   It’s with profound admiration and deep respect, then, that we acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of this country and extend that respect to Elders past and present. They shaped (and continue to shape) the history of this land, they cared for (and continue to care for) its natural environment, and they never ceded its sovereignty. It always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.

Acknowledgement of Diversity

All fields are improved by diversity – but that's especially true for creativity. We welcome everyone – the neurodiverse, members of the LGBTQI+ community, all (legal working) ages, all ethnicities, all genders, parents, those from unconvential educational backgrounds, people with disability – because we believe both our work and our workplace are improved by diversity of thought and perspective, which can only truly come from diversity of culture and experience. Having said that, we also know we can't simply reap the benefits of diversity without reckoning with the inequities so often suffered by less represented communities. We work to be mindful of our biases, to incorporate proactive representation into our processes, and elevate marginalised voices in our work. It's a forever-ongoing–and–improving process – but it's non-negotiable when you're building an agency that's For The People.