Rebranding Paradigm
By Sasha Birukoff, Flora Guo, Michael Alfano, and Anna Monaco
Introduction
Paradigm is entering a new era. As the company announced its public product launch and a $7M fundraise led by General Catalyst, it unveiled a new brand identity designed to match its ambition—something as bold and forward-thinking as the technology itself.
The rebrand spanned logo, typography, colors, custom graphic assets, a new website and physical merchandise. The work was led by Sasha Birukoff, with web development by Michael Alfano and motion design by Chiung Zhang (web) and Nikita Koshi (rebrand video)
As part of the process, Sasha spent two weeks working from Paradigm’s hacker house in San Francisco, collaborating with the team in person to refine the details together.
Creative Direction
The goal was to create a brand that feels like a paradigm shift—secure and structured, yet futuristic and liberating.
We drew inspiration from spreadsheets: grids, cells, and infinite repetition. But rather than treating them as static, the brand imagines them in motion—shifting, expanding, and transforming. This sense of movement signals change and progress, turning something familiar into a system that feels dimensional and alive.
The result is a direction that balances industrial precision with openness and scale—a visual identity that feels infinite yet ordered, and bold enough to grow with Paradigm’s vision.
Logo & Wordmark
The cube has always been central to Paradigm’s identity, but the original mark struggled in practice. It didn’t scale well across platforms, was difficult to apply on merchandise, and lacked the distinctiveness needed to stand out at small sizes.
We set out to evolve the cube without losing its recognition. The result is a subtle optical illusion: a mark that feels both two-dimensional and three-dimensional depending on how you look at it. It’s the kind of logo that, once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
The wordmark was refined with the same level of care. Built on TWK Lausanne, it features adjusted kerning and proportions for better balance. The cube is vertically aligned with the “P” rather than the hanging “g,” creating a cleaner and more stable optical relationship between the symbol and the wordmark.
Together, the logo and wordmark form a system that is bold, versatile, and immediately recognizable—capable of carrying Paradigm across product, media, and physical applications.
Color System
The previous palette leaned heavily on soft gradients that felt almost magical—at times too light, playful, and distant from the serious tone Paradigm needed to convey.
For the rebrand, we introduced a set of dark, neutral, and light gradients designed to feel industrial, futuristic, and secure. These gradients create depth and atmosphere, serving as flexible backdrops for UI design, product screenshots, and brand communications.
The result is a palette that balances clarity and mood: restrained enough to signal trust and professionalism, but expressive enough to give Paradigm a distinctive visual presence.
Typography
Typography was a key part of the rebrand. The previous typeface felt too elegant and soft, which didn’t align with Paradigm’s industrial and serious tone.
We introduced Atacama, a variable serif from Newglyph Foundry, as the primary typeface. It balances strength and sophistication, giving Paradigm the authority of an infrastructure company while still feeling contemporary. For supporting text and product interfaces, we use Neue Montreal by Pangram Pangram Foundry, a versatile sans-serif that ensures clarity and consistency across applications.
Visual System
Beyond logo and color, the rebrand introduced a complete visual system to give Paradigm structure and flexibility.
Infinite Cells are the centerpiece—graphic elements inspired by spreadsheets, imagined in motion. They can appear as chaotic bursts to convey speed, or as grid formations to feel more structural. Broken into smaller “cell chunks,” they also work as subtle textures in the background.
Supporting this are icons built on strict grids with no rounding, ensuring clarity and precision across product and marketing. The 12-column layout system ties it all together, stretching lines as far as possible to create a sense of openness and scale.
Together, these elements form a design language that feels industrial, dynamic, and unmistakably Paradigm.
Website
The new website brings Paradigm’s identity to life through motion and detail. Every page features subtle animations and product-focused motion graphics that highlight key features and give the brand a sense of energy in use.
Typography and grid provide the foundation, but it’s the movement of Infinite Cells, gradients, and UI elements that make the site feel dynamic and alive. The result is a web presence that is structured yet expressive, giving Paradigm a distinctive voice in a space where many sites feel interchangeable.
Merch
To extend the brand beyond screens, we designed a graphic for Paradigm tees and hoodies. Rather than treating merch as an afterthought, it was approached with the same attention to detail as the rest of the system.
Printed in gray on black, the design drew from the same assets and slogans used across the brand, reinforcing the industrial, futuristic tone. Fit and print quality were tested in person with a manufacturer in Orange County to ensure the final pieces felt intentional and premium.
The merch quickly became one of the most talked-about expressions of the rebrand, resonating at the launch party and beyond with an attitude closer to streetwear than typical tech apparel.
Closing & Reflection
The rebrand brought together every layer of Paradigm’s identity—from logo and typography to Infinite Cells, layout, website, and even a physical presence through merch. The result is a unified system that is bold, versatile, and distinct.
It embodies Paradigm’s core idea of a shift: structured yet dynamic, industrial yet forward-looking. Details like the shifting cells, the optical illusion of the cube, and the streetwear-inspired merch made the brand feel alive—an identity built to last and reflective of the future Paradigm is building.
