Freelancing for academics : helping companies make a research-based positive change.

‘While companies struggle to keep up with a changing world amid a climate crisis, academics have a wealth of underutilised knowledge.’

ScholarTribe is a freelance marketplace that connects climate-related academics to businesses, allowing them to make research-based positive change. From video consultations to written deliverables covering a huge range of climate areas, ScholarTribe’s community can be a valuable asset for companies wanting to make a difference.

During their process of building their new online marketplace, we helped them develop their brand to encompass their forward-thinking nature and focus on accessibility. We then supported them translating their brand into the site using Softr.

An approachable, human-centred identity, but with a focus on innovation.

ScholarTribe is all about connections and community, so we wanted to keep people at the centre of its identity. Most notably, the set of colourised illustrations (made by Pablo Stanley’s Open Peeps) are a really engaging way of communicating the importance of the ‘tribe’, and really bring the site to life. We also chose to group them with a swatch of colour behind, to strengthen the feeling of togetherness.

The colour scheme features refreshing blues paired with warm neutrals, a hint towards ScholarTribe’s focus on innovation, both within the company and their community of scholars. The warmer colours bring in a more welcoming and confident aspect, which strengthens ScholarTribe’s approachability.  

Their marketplace provides an encouraging and accessible space for both clients and academics wanted to make a difference.

The chosen typefaces are a nod to ScholarTribe’s academic background. The serif style of Gentium Basic has traditional aspects but also works effectively on screen. Roboto is simple sans serif that compliments Gentium nicely, and presents the content in a clean and legible way.

The new brand sits nicely in Softr’s website builder; the clean lines and dynamic elements work well with the simple application of ScholarTribe’s brand. The illustrations lift the pages whilst the colours bring in some warmth, scaling well for both larger and smaller screens.