Ashton
Open magazine with a ZSA Moonlander keyboard spread

ZSA Moonlander

Brand Identity & Campaign For A High-Tech Keyboard

student project

The existing visual language relied heavily on skeuomorphic elements and lacked a clear contemporary identity.

This project builds a simplified brand identity and a campaign concept that reflects the keyboard’s modular design philosophy and technical character.

Four campaign visuals: a subway billboard, a keycap close-up, a magazine spread and a product close-up
ZSA Moonlander billboard in a subway station
The previous ZSA logo beside the new Z lettermark on navy Logo Rationale page: the Z mark and wordmark beside the founding story and notes on the logomark and the wordmark

Brand Direction

The brand direction focuses on clarity and modularity, reflecting the engineering mindset of programmable keyboard users.

A simplified logomark replaces the previous skeuomorphic logo. Its double outline follows the two-layer keycaps and the split layout of the boards, and it stays clear at small sizes.

The wordmark is set in a serif, Corundum Text Bold, which reads as something built to last rather than a tech startup.

Guidelines page with the horizontal ZSA logo lockups Guidelines page with the navy, violet, black and white palette
Guidelines page with DM Serif Display and Inter Guidelines page with the horizontal logo on white, navy, black and purple backgrounds
Guidelines page with the square and circle avatars and a navy banner Guidelines page with six crossed-out misuses of the logo

Identity System

The guidelines set out the lockups and their minimum sizes, the logo on different backgrounds and as a social media avatar, and the misuses to avoid. Deep navy is the base colour, with mid purple as a small accent that never competes with it. DM Serif Display and Inter carry communication and stay separate from the logo type.

Trade-show booth in navy and purple, with the Z mark on the walls and the counter
Purple USB-C adapter with the Z mark, plugged into a laptop USB stick with a purple body and the ZSA lockup on the metal swivel A pile of navy badges with the Z mark and wordmark

Applications

The identity on a trade-show booth and on merchandise: a USB-C adapter, a USB stick and badges.

Close-up of orange keycaps on the Moonlander under the line Built for Focus
Poster: one half of the Moonlander from above, Built for the way you work Poster: the keyboard’s key grid with orange and red keys, Precision in every key The Built for the way you work poster leaning against a wall beside books
Social post with one half of the keyboard and the line Built for the way you work Low view of the keyboard’s underside and a red keycap, with the word Moonlander

Campaign

Through bold compositions and close-up product visuals, the design emphasizes precision, customization, and the tactile experience of mechanical keyboards.

The visual system extends across multiple campaign touchpoints including billboards, editorials, and social media graphics, maintaining a consistent visual language built around precision and modular structure.

The campaign images were made for a photography course and carry the keyboard’s own icon, not the new Z mark. I shot the keyboard myself in the studio, every frame at f/11, 1/160 s and ISO 80.

Sketchbook page with hexagon Z marks, a circuit-tree symbol and two animal sketches Sketchbook page: the letters Z, S and A in boxes, a hard-edged Z and two angular animal sketches
Three digital Z directions in black: a heavy block Z, a slanted Z in a parallelogram and a double-outline Z
Type tests: the Z lockup with three wordmark treatments and notes on each Colour tests: the Z lockup in muted blue, grey and teal, with notes

Sketches

The Z started as pencil sketches on grid paper. Three digital directions followed, then tests of the wordmark in sans and serif type and in muted blue, grey and teal.

March draft of the clear space page, with construction boxes drawn over the Z mark September revision of the clear space page, with the rule drawn out and a spacing table
Stationery page added in September, with letterhead, envelope and business card specs Letterhead page added in September, with measured print specs
Unedited product photo of the two keyboard halves from above, on grey Unedited product photo with the halves offset and an orange keycap in the middle Unedited product photo of one half from above at an angle

Process

The clear space page as drafted in March and as revised in September, when the rule was drawn out and stationery and letterhead specs were added. Below, unedited shots from the product shoot.