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Carrot, Rebrand Passion Project

A passion project identity for a savings product: confident type, vivid colour.

ClientCarrot
RolePassion Project: Creative Direction (Identity Design, Motion System)
Year2026
CategoryBranding, Animation
CreditsPaulo Alpuim (Motion Design)
ScopeBrand strategy, identity, type and colour, 3D motion, product UI
Overview

How do you make passive yield feel serious and alive?

Carrot is a yield layer on Solana. You deposit stablecoins once and the vault spreads them across 8+ lending protocols, rebalancing toward the best yield. The product moves money all day, but its identity looked still. This passion project reinvents the brand, from strategy to a 3D motion system.

8+lending protocols, one deposit
3stablecoins: USDC, USDT and PYUSD
0%management fee
0.05%redemption fee, the only cost
My role

I led the creative direction, from strategy to the motion system

Positioning, audience, personality, logo, type, colour, 3D materials, social and outdoor applications, and product UI. Motion design with Paulo Alpuim.

Problem

The brand looked darker and quieter than the product

Carrot already had an identity, but it didn't feel serious, interactive or dynamic. The palette was dark and moody, where a product about money that keeps working needed brightness and energy.

Before: the previous wordmark with a pixel carrot. After: the new sprout mark on Carrot orange.
The previous app on a phone: a wallet balance on dark green with teal rings
BeforeApp: a wallet balance on dark green, with teal rings behind.
The new app on a phone: Earn automated yield and the CRT panel in deep green, on Carrot orange
AfterApp: Earn in Reckless on cream, the CRT panel in deep green.
Previous social posts on dark green with teal arcs: Carrot Spaces and PYUSD
BeforeSocial: dark green posts with teal arcs and a bold sans.
New social posts: Backed by Stability. Driven by Yield., Automated compounding, and Plant your yield, one deposit away
AfterSocial: one line in Reckless and 3D coins, signed with the sprout.
Previous explainer posts on teal: a cartoon carrot beside a risk wheel and token icons
BeforeGraphics: a cartoon carrot, a risk wheel and token icons on teal.
New product cards: Earn up to 10% APY, Collect, and an open JLP position
AfterGraphics: the app's own cards on orange, deep green and lime.
Why it hurts
01Colour and first impressions

People judge a site's visual appeal within about 50 ms, and brighter, more saturated colours are rated more pleasant and more arousing. A dark, muted palette set a calm tone before any number was read, not money at work.

02Credibility

How a site looks is the most cited reason people give for trusting it or not. For a product that holds savings, a dated look costs trust.

Audience

Who is it for?

People in the Solana ecosystem who want passive income without managing positions across many protocols. They don't want to compare rates every day; they want Carrot to pick the best route for them.

Who they are

Solana users holding stablecoins who want passive income, with no protocol hopping and no daily checks.

Audience and need
What Carrot does

One deposit, routed across 8+ protocols toward the best yield.

Promise
Why it works
01Fewer choices

Decision time grows with the number of choices, and more options can make people less likely to act at all. One deposit replaces a choice between dozens of protocols, and Carrot does the routing.

Strategy

One idea: money shouldn't sit still

The position is managed yield on Solana, routed for you. The platform line, from the launch film, is money shouldn't sit still. Every piece says it with a figure, a promise or something growing.

Backed by Stability. Driven by Yield. in Reckless on deep green
The brand line: stability in deep green, yield in orange and lime.
Serious

Numbers first, plain words and risk named up front.

Tone
Energetic and alive

Carrot orange and lime instead of a dark, moody palette, with 3D materials and motion so the brand moves like the money.

Colour and motion
Why it works
01Exact, easy lines

Precise numbers read as more factual than round ones, and statements that are easy to process are judged more true. Lines lead with real figures like 0% and 0.05%, in one short line repeated everywhere.

Identity

A sprout, a serif and three bright colours

The pixel carrot became a simple mark: the carrot's leaves rising from a half circle, read as a sprout. Reckless Standard carries headlines and big figures; Geist carries the interface, body copy and data.

Carrot logo in cream on orange
Mark on Carrot orangeThe sprout and wordmark in cream.
Carrot logo in cream on deep green
Mark on deep greenThe same lockup on the brand's dark ground.
Deep green#003322
Carrot orange#F66C1D
Lime#B9F481
Fresh lime#9CF47A
Cream#FFFAED
Forest#1F6843
ColourDeep green for stability, orange for yield, lime for growth, cream as the paper.
Favicon and app tileThe mark holds up at favicon size.
Type system: Reckless Standard as the primary face, Geist as the secondary
TypeReckless Standard by Displaay for headlines and figures; Geist by Vercel for the interface.
Why it works
01Readable, with two voices

Deep green on cream measures 13.5:1 and on lime 10.9:1, far past the 4.5:1 that text needs. A serif for the message and a sans for the numbers keep the brand line and the data apart at a glance.

Motion

3D materials that move like money

Coins, stacked discs and the sprout were built as 3D materials, then animated into a motion system for social, outdoor and the website. Motion design by Paulo Alpuim.

Why it works
01Motion and depth

The start of a movement captures attention even when people aren't looking for it, and shading alone is enough for the brain to see a solid shape. The 3D coins read as something you hold, not a flat icon.

Applications

The same line, everywhere

Social posts lead with one figure or one promise. Outdoor boards keep one idea each, readable in three seconds. Every piece ends on the sprout.

Social posts in the feed: money that sits still is money quietly losing, wealth and habit lines
Orange billboard among trees: your savings should work as hard as you do
BillboardYour savings should work as hard as you do.
Lime billboard on a building: the simplest way to earn more
Building wrapThe simplest way to earn more.
Three posters on a wall: set it once, one account, let your money do the homework
Posters: one line and one 3D object each.
Why it works
01Seen and remembered

Pictures are remembered better than words, and repeated exposure makes a brand feel familiar and liked. Each piece pairs one line with one 3D object and closes on the same mark.

Product UI

The app, rebuilt in the same voice

Carrot's app has five sections: Earn, Borrow, Boost, Turbo and Portfolio. Each one is rebuilt in the new identity, with a Boost pool page and a Turbo token page, following the live app's structure and copy. Cream ground, deep green panels, Reckless for headlines and big figures, Geist for every number, lime for the one primary action.

Seven app screens; on a phone each one stacks into a single column
The first product pieces from the rebrand, rebuilt in the app's UI.
On a phone

The same app, one column

Every screen stacks into one column on a 390 px phone: the action panel stays first, tables become one card per row, and the lime button stays in reach of a thumb.

Carrot Earn on a phone: CRT panel with APY, total value locked and the deposit form
EarnThe CRT panel comes first: yield, fees and the deposit in one screen.
JLP Boost on a phone: deposits, liquidity, APY and the open position panel
Boost poolPool stats above the position panel, with a slider sized for a thumb.
Turbo on a phone: the TurboSOL and TurboBTC cards
TurboEach Turbo token is one card: price, 7-day trend and leverage.
TurboSOL on a phone: NAV chart and the mint panel
Turbo tokenNAV, price and leverage above the chart; mint and redeem below.
Borrow on a phone: one card per asset with availability and borrow APY
BorrowThe borrow table becomes one card per asset.
Portfolio on a phone: net value chart, earnings and positions
PortfolioNet value and earnings first, then every position as a card.

Numbers are illustrative. Sections and copy follow deficarrot.com; product facts come from Carrot's docs.

Why it works
01Consistent and visible

The same nav, action panel and lime button sit in the same place on every screen. Fees, lock-ups, health factor and liquidation price sit next to the action, so the state is always in view.

02One primary action

Each panel has a single lime button, so the next step is never in doubt.

Reflection

A brand that moves like the product

Passion project, not commissioned by Carrot. Product facts from Carrot's docs (June 2026).

Sources
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