The Smartsheet brand works as a living system. Logo, color, type, illustration, and photography are separate components, but each inherits the same core principles, so work made by different hands in different markets still reads as one brand. The system carries real constraints: type is checked for contrast, color is governed centrally so one change propagates everywhere, and the logomark behaves differently in the app than in marketing. That shared source of truth is the point. It lets contributors move fast without drifting off-brand.
The Brand System
The bento concept is personal to me. A bento is a Japanese meal built in compartments, where rice, fish, and vegetables each hold their own space yet balance into one plate. Nothing is crowded, nothing is lost, and the care shows in the arrangement. Our grid follows the same logic: every element sits in a defined compartment, distinct but in proportion, composing a layout that reads as a whole.
The timing mattered. Smartsheet was expanding into Japan and opening a Tokyo office, and my Japanese-American roots shaped a system that felt native to that market and gave the Tokyo team a piece of the brand they could speak to directly. A rare alignment of system and culture, with room left for the team to build on it.
The Basics
To effectively communicate hierarchy and design methodology with global teams and vendors, we stuck to a design that could see reasonable success with a basic understanding of rule of thirds and golden ratio design principles.
OOH
London, Tokyo, or Chicago, the work adapts to its market while the system underneath stays constant. Same compartment logic, same sense of proportion. Different teams, different audiences, unmistakably Smartsheet.
Note
The brand continues to evolve. The Smartsheet app and its bento-inspired language remain the foundation.
Brand Video Studio
I wanted to scale our live video productions, so I pitched an in-house studio that could scale production and make being on set feel like a brand experience.
With a $60k budget, I designed a broadcast-quality space with programmable lighting, integrated audio, minimal visible cabling, and a quick-change set system.
Ten months later: 30+ productions without a single rental, a 650% year-over-year lift in output, and 300% ROI in cost avoidance.
Animation
Animation is core to Smartsheet’s brand campaigns and storytelling. For brand campaigns, we outsourced production with the core studio team driving the creative, including storyboard, concept art, and overall brand and visual style governance.
The concept art presented here was developed under our guidance for a series called “Tales of the Un-probable” animated by House Special, the commercial division of world-renown LAIKA Studios. We leaned on our customer partnerships with McLaren, JPL, and Operation Smile to create a series of 30-second digital and OTT spots, one of which aired for the World Series 2025.
