When updating Aztec's visual style, the logo stayed the same. It's more than just a symbol - it's something Aztec users know and trust, showing the brand's history and values. Keeping the logo shows a commitment to this trust and quality as the brand grows.

Aztec's color palette builds on the existing and established hues but breathes new life into them by ramping up their saturation. This creates a palette that is more vivid, lively, and full of excitement.

This evolution in our colors aligns with the brand mission to present privacy in a new, vibrant light that not only protects but also celebrates individuality. This updated palette is crafted to make Aztec stand out, generating a unique personality that shines in the crowded Web3 landscape.

As will be elaborated further on later in this document, gradients at Aztec are more than a mere design choice: they symbolize two contrasting yet connected forces, like public and private, that feed into each other, embodying the spirit of the art direction.

In practice, gradients enable a wide array of combinations, with each color smoothly transitioning into the next, to create a unified but dynamic visual experience. This approach opens up limitless possibilities that keep Aztec’s brand lively, approachable, and full of energy.

Aztec's brand uses two typefaces: Space Grotesk for headings and Inter for body text. Both are open fonts, fitting Aztec's open and decentralized values, and free from licensing issues.

Space Grotesk is a sans-serif font, unique and futuristic. It has sharp lines, bold curves, and open shapes, creating a modern and friendly look that stands out. It's perfect for making headings and titles eye-catching.

Inter is the secondary font, chosen for its readability. It balances Space Grotesk's boldness, mostly used in body text and paragraphs. Inter's clean, neutral style is great for longer texts. Its open shapes and even lines are easy to read, making content clear and enjoyable.

Iconography is kept simple following the Brand's principle of abstracting complexity and ensure ease of understanding. By avoiding extra details, these icons don’t add cognitive load, making information processing smooth and straightforward for users.

From a storytelling perspective, gradients serve as a powerful visual metaphor within the Aztec brand. They are composed of multiple, interconnected colors that seamlessly blend into one another, symbolizing the relationship between the private and the public—two forces that are distinct yet inseparable.

When adding an extra dimension through motion, gradients opens up even more avenues to represent privacy.

For example, an overlaying shape within a gradient can be visible only when aligned in a certain way. A simple rotation may obscure the shape completely, yet it remains part of the design.

This interplay of visibility is emblematic of privacy—the seen and the unseen—providing a dynamic visual resource to represent the essence of what is private and what is public.

The visual identity of Aztec incorporates patterns to represent the Project's strategic planning and development process. These patterns, similar to an architectural blueprint, utilize a variety of shapes, colors, and compositions to showcase Aztec's feature-rich value proposition and symbolize its journey towards creating intricate frameworks.

Level 1 patterns are about simplicity. Here, basic shapes and a restrained color palette come together to create straightforward patterns. These can serve as ornamental backdrops or textures, providing a subtle nod to the brand's visual identity without overwhelming the content.

Level 2 patterns introduce a layer of complexity. The shapes become more intricate and combine different color hues, resulting in compositions that command more attention. These patterns are designed to be used more prominently, such as as key graphics.

Furthermore, these patterns are not only designed to enhance aesthetic appeal but are also easily replicable, ensuring their consistent application across various mediums.

In some spaces, the gradient patterns may come across as too solemn or serious for the intended audience or event. Recognizing this, the Aztec brand introduces Aztecmojis for instances where a dash of playfulness is not only appropriate but beneficial.

These offbeat interventions of the main patterns and gradients allow for the incorporation of characters and figurative elements that are engaging and relatable.

3D elements symbolize the brand's forward trajectory. While gradients suggest a sense of depth, they ultimately remain two-dimensional. Transitioning these gradients into 3D space, we give them tangible volume, bringing them to life and signaling a natural progression in our design narrative, and the project itself.

In this example, showcasing Aztec’s logo in 3D allows us to reinterpret its meaning, with a block in the center that is surrounded or protected by a shield. This can tie to the concept of privacy, or something that is being protected from the outside world.

Aztec's photography focuses on capturing the true essence of the team and Aztec-related situations with minimal digital editing. Photos are taken in natural environments such as parks, city streets, offices, or open spaces, to create a relaxed and approachable atmosphere. This less formal, more personable style complements Aztec's laid-back company culture, making subjects appear relatable and genuine. The use of natural light adds a warm, welcoming quality, while a depth of field technique accentuates the subject against varied background colors.

For headshots, the camera is positioned at eye level and directly in front, ensuring clear facial recognition, with subjects captured in natural settings, without the need for major posing.

Documentation banners feature Level 2 patterns as their primary images, aiming to convey a technical aesthetic. These banners reflect Aztec's comprehensive features and its commitment to developing complex frameworks, as detailed in this patterns section.

To cater to diverse needs and contexts, we have categorized diagrams into two levels, each varying in visual complexity, allowing designers to tailor technical graphics specifically to different outlets and audiences.

Level 1 diagrams are all about simplicity and clarity. Primarily composed of primitive components and arrows, they also leverage additional visual elements such as iconography as needed. The use of color can expand to certain tones of the color palette, but the style also admits monochromatic versions.

At Level 2, diagrams transform into fully visual representations. These diagrams are highly stylized, and likely work better to depict simpler / simplified systems. They incorporate a wide range of visual elements, from intricate icons and color gradients to dynamic shapes and patterns, and various perspectives.

Stationary elements, both printed and digital, must always incorporate established brand elements, and always prioritize legibility. Creativity in layout, favoring irregular and innovative designs, is encouraged.

General guidelines, backgrounds, and templates were made available to keep a consistent visual language throughout the overall presentation output. Consistency not only serves to consolidate the brand, but it’s also the key value to educate an audience on how to process information.

Aztec's web design is where all our brand's visuals come together, offering a user-friendly and visually engaging experience. It's crafted for easy navigation and responsiveness, ensuring a seamless and enjoyable journey on any device.

Aztec's website features and related materials merge the various graphics and techniques of our main brand, along with some crafted visual extensions. This approach is especially notable in our blog, which is further detailed below.

The vision for Aztec's blog visuals is to construct a distinct, immersive universe that complements the blog content, creating a special experience for readers. While the overall aesthetics align with the core brand through its color palette and overarching themes, it introduces a more narrative-driven and richly detailed environment. This approach is designed to engage readers in a way that goes beyond standard blog visuals, making each article  a journey into a crafted world.

The theme of this universe evolves the historical Aztec style that have been so well-received both internally and externally, helping the brand to embrace Aztec's legacy. We envision a futuristic space populated with gender-neutral characters, employing an outlined style that exudes a sense of craftsmanship and attention to detail.

To bring this intricate and unique illustration style to life in a resource-efficient way we decided to leverage artificial intelligence. This approach allowed the Design team to maintain the high quality and detail of Aztec's visual style while enabling it to scale our efforts efficiently.