Amazon DSP

Global Brand System

Background

Amazon DSP needed a unified global brand system that could bring more consistency to how the program showed up across regions, channels, and operational touchpoints. The opportunity was to create a clearer visual expression for a business closely connected to Amazon, while still giving DSP enough distinction to stand on its own. The system needed to support a wide range of communications, from campaign storytelling and educational content to regional market adaptations and day-to-day operational materials. Just as importantly, it had to work globally without becoming rigid or losing relevance between markets.

Challenge

The challenge was to define a brand expression for Amazon DSP that felt connected to Amazon without feeling like an Amazon sub-brand or like it was competing with the parent logo. DSP needed a distinct identity layer, but the system still had to live within Amazon’s broader brand architecture. As an Art Director at Amazon, I designed and delivered an 80-page global brand book that established the visual system for Amazon DSP. The work included art direction, layout, typography, photography guidance, illustration rules, localization principles, and channel applications designed to scale across global markets.

  • Designed and delivered an 80-page global brand book for Amazon DSP

  • Established a scalable brand expression across identity, imagery, illustration, and layout

  • Created illustration rules built for speed, volume, and localization across global markets

  • Defined applications for digital, social, OOH, and operational touchpoints

  • Built a flexible foundation for future DSP campaign and market expansion

System

Brand Expression

The system began with the identity layer. Since DSP needed distinction without competing with Amazon’s parent logo, the brand expression centered on a typographic eyebrow treatment. Used above the headline, it gave DSP a consistent point of recognition while allowing the Amazon logo to anchor the communication separately.

From there, I built a visual language that gave DSP its own recognizable space. Circular image treatments with a blue outline created a consistent framing device, while photography direction emphasized DSP owners, vans, packages, and delivery environments to make the connection between entrepreneurship and logistics immediately clear.

Scalable Illustration

Once the identity layer was established, illustration became the next level of the brand system. Photography could show real people and environments, but illustration did the heavy lifting for speed, volume, and operational specificity across global markets.

I created a scalable illustration approach that could quickly adapt to regional requirements, including different van types, branded or unbranded vehicles, uniform colors, hi-vis vests, delivery settings, and skin tones. That flexibility allowed icons and scene-building illustrations to communicate clearly across markets while keeping the broader DSP system consistent and easy to produce at volume.

Cross-channel Rollout

With the brand expression and illustration system in place, the next step was applying them across real-world touchpoints. The system was designed to work across digital, social, out-of-home, and operational environments, giving DSP a consistent visual language that could support both campaign storytelling and practical day-to-day execution.

Modular layouts, flexible image rules, and a shared illustration language helped the system scale across formats while keeping the work recognizable from one channel to the next. The result was a brand that could move fluidly between polished communications and more functional touchpoints without losing consistency.

Global Localization

The final test was whether the system could scale cleanly across international markets. Once the English master was established, the brand language needed to hold up through localization — not just in copy, but in photography, illustration, layout, and regional adaptation.

Because the system was built with flexibility from the start, localized executions could adapt to market-specific realities while maintaining a cohesive DSP identity. That made it possible to roll out the brand globally without every market needing to reinvent the expression from scratch.

Impact

The Amazon DSP brand system created a unified foundation for global communications, giving teams a clearer and more scalable way to express the brand across markets, channels, and operational use cases. By defining the core visual language and the rules for localization, the work helped reduce fragmentation while making the system easier to adapt across regional needs.