ISAAC WOOTEN
ÄKTA

ÄKTA

A web studio in downtown Chicago, later acquired by Salesforce. Its site and cards from my years there, 2010 to 2012, and the brand world they implied.

2010–12
Design Director, ÄKTA Web Studio
Salesforce
Acquired by Salesforce
5 → 15
Five pieces, fifteen brand surfaces
↗
Brand book
Result

Äkta is Swedish for genuine. ÄKTA was a team of web artists in downtown Chicago: interfaces, websites and media, fierce applications in PHP and MODX, cloud software and mobile apps. As design director from 2010 to 2012 I led design on akta.com and the studio’s client and product work, among them Magento’s mobile commerce for iOS, MODX, TopGolf kiosks, Vosges Chocolate and Traklabs. Salesforce later acquired the studio. What it taught me: a studio’s own site is its first pitch, so say what you do in the time it takes to read one line.

The brief

A studio that says it builds fierce products has to look like it.

The mark is a red lattice of four overlapping arcs, and the wordmark a thin, lowercase äkta, so the identity carries both halves of the pitch: bold craft and quiet precision. The site said what the studio did in five coloured bands over glossy 3D ribbons on black, one line each, no scrolling needed to understand it. The cards did the same in miniature: a calm light set on a diamond pattern, a dark set, and one that set AKTA vertically beside a face-painted portrait for the people you wanted to remember you.

A red lattice

Four arcs woven into one mark, crimson on black or on paper, strong at any size.

Five bands, five services

The home page as a list you read in seconds: interfaces, applications, cloud software, mobile.

Chiaroscuro

Deep black, one saturated red and subjects that emerge from the dark.

Genuine

The name is the value: real, honest and a little unapologetic.

The work

akta.com: glossy ribbons of pink, orange and blue on black, crossed by coloured bands reading AKTA is a team of web artists based in downtown Chicago, we design beautiful interfaces, websites and media, we build fierce applications in PHP and MODX, we create simple and powerful cloud software, we also design and build sexy mobile apps.
akta.com: what the studio does, one band at a time.
An earlier akta.com: Hello! we are äkta, a light page introducing the studio’s interfaces, PHP and MODX work and its flagship product, over a dark footer.
Hello! we are äkta.
ÄKTA business cards on a light diamond pattern: the red lattice mark, the lowercase äkta wordmark and contact details.
The cards, light.
An ÄKTA card: AKTA set vertically in heavy type beside a portrait in red and white face paint, the mark and contact details below.
The loud one.
ÄKTA business cards on black: the red lattice mark, the äkta wordmark and äkta web studio.
The cards, dark.

Brand system

Seen again years later, the site and cards were already most of a brand. I locked what they shared (ÄKTA red and deep crimson on black and paper, a thin geometric wordmark, portraits and glossy forms emerging from the dark) and followed it into print, product, a campaign, an editorial spread and a storefront.

  • ÄKTA. Brand world: the red lattice mark as a glossy sculpture on a black plinth, wrapped in a crimson ribbonBrand world · rendered from the locked brand DNA
  • ÄKTA. Logo variations sheet
  • ÄKTA. Mark construction
  • ÄKTA. Brand guidelines sheet
  • ÄKTA. Business cards
  • ÄKTA. Packaging
  • ÄKTA. Merch collection
  • ÄKTA. Lifestyle photography
  • ÄKTA. Stationery
  • ÄKTA. Website hero, Turning Opportunity Into Impact
  • ÄKTA. Mobile app screens
  • ÄKTA. Campaign key visual, Ideas Into Real Impact
  • ÄKTA. Editorial spread, Digital Experiences That Create Real Progress
  • ÄKTA. Billboard, Digital experiences for what’s next
  • ÄKTA. Storefront

The site and cards are the design. The brand world is a 2026 study made with my own tool from them, not work for ÄKTA or Salesforce.

We design beautiful experiences and build fierce products.

ÄKTA, the brand DNA

Role

Design director at ÄKTA, 2010 to 2012. A 2026 study for the brand world.

Design director

Design across the studio’s site, clients and products, through to the acquisition by Salesforce.

The work

akta.com, Magento mobile commerce for iOS, MODX, TopGolf kiosks, Vosges Chocolate and Traklabs.

Brand DNA

Extracted and locked: palette with roles, display, body and mono type, voice, imagery rules.

Fifteen surfaces

Logo system, guidelines, cards, stationery, packaging, merch, photography, web, app, a campaign, an editorial spread, billboard and storefront.

  • Design direction
  • Web design
  • Identity
  • Studio leadership
  • Brand DNA extraction
  • Brand systems

Next

The studio lives in the archive with the rest of its clients.

Browse the archive →