This page is a very simple guide to the PostHog brand. The purpose of these diagrams is to provide a concrete representation of PostHog's brand, so that we have a common reference point when we are working on new design, product, marketing and strategy initiatives. Should our website design be more serious or playful? Are we writing articles in a tone of voice that makes sense? These questions should be easier to answer with this guide.
A brand guide also helps our team (especially newcomers) and customers understand what we stand for.
This guide is dynamic, not fixed - we fully expect it to change over time, especially as we learn more about our users and market.
We used a template from GV to run the 3-hour brand sprint that generated the outputs below.
20 year roadmap
This is highly speculative from 10 years onwards - we only really think about our strategy in detail over the next 5 years. Nobody should expect us to stick to this - the point is to push us to think about the really long term. We want PostHog to last into the 2040s, and further...
Top 3 values
We have already spent a lot of time creating and refining our values. The objective here was to select the top 3 most important, and then the top 1. To borrow from Jake Knapp: "knowing your most important value makes decisions easier, clarifies your message, and sets you apart from the competition."
In 20 years' time, we believe that if we have adhered to this value above all others, we'll be in a good place.
Top 3 audiences
The intention here is to go broader than pure job titles (which is what we do when we develop personas). Here we're asking 'who are the most important people whose opinions we care about?'. We believe that, if we build products that the below 3 audiences love, we will build a successful business.
Personality sliders
There are several different axes that we can plot the PostHog brand against. This exercise helped us align on how we want to position ourselves externally, and was particularly revealing as different team members perceived the brand quite differently in some cases. For example, on the 'Friend' vs. 'Authority' axis, we realized that being seen as credible thought leaders meant we couldn't go too far to the 'Friend' extreme.
Competitive landscape
The graph that brand teams at our competitors will hate. It's important to remember that this graph doesn't mean one place is 'good' and another is 'bad' (with the exception of 'ignorance' probably). Instead, this graph is a helpful reminder of how we want to position our brand relative to other brands. For example, if we decide to make our visual imagery more reserved, we should question whether this will help or hurt our ability to stand out in the market.
Karma
Be helpful to other companies - we are here to increase the number of successful companies in the world. Especially those with high potential that are putting in the work, like YC current batch ones. For example, if a YC company reaches out, take them seriously and buy their product (if it's genuinely valuable and safe to do so) or give direct feedback if not.
Brand assets
We keep a comprehensive list of brand assets and guidelines for their use on the dedicated brand assets page.