☻ José Esteves

Design & Creative Direction

Works — About

☻ JE — Works — About

Unbabel

Refining the voice of the next translation layer

Creative Direction — Brand Strategy — Graphic Design — Motion Design — UI and UX Design

Translating vision into growth

In 2017, Unbabel faced a pivotal choice: stay a basic translation plug-in or become the AI-powered translation layer defining a new CRM category. To make that leap, the brand needed to evolve from a beta startup to a scalable, future unicorn. This meant crafting a bold, strategic visual and narrative identity that brought to life a vision of seamless, human-centered communication.

Beyond storytelling, the transformation involved building a full ecosystem of communication assets to support the new go-to-market strategy. From a refreshed brand identity and website to sales decks, explainer videos, case studies, and marketing collateral, everything was designed to fuel lead generation and empower the sales team to close deals.

The blueprint moment

We needed the right foundations, and that started with clear alignment across all key stakeholders, from Product and Sales to HR and Senior Leadership. By establishing a shared brand matrix, we created a solid framework to define the brand’s future direction, provide inspiration, and set the narrative theme for all communications.

With that alignment in place, we began shaping a scalable brand architecture, one that could flex across all layers of the organization: the master brand, services and products, internal team brands, and endorsed brands. We built it on strong, consistent foundations of color and typography. Designed to stand independently of any specific campaign.

No UI, no problem: The power of illustrations

Unbabel was a technology that lived inside other platforms, deeply integrated into CRM. That meant traditional product visuals or photography rarely worked. Aside from demos, we were always telling our story through someone else’s interface.

It quickly became clear that the best way to express our value was through conceptual illustration, a medium that could capture the brand’s personality with optimism, curiosity, and a touch of practical magic.

So we partnered with Adamastor Studio to develop a distinctive illustration style and narrative language. Together, we created a rich visual library that our internal design team could scale and evolve, laying the groundwork for a consistent, expressive brand presence across every touchpoint.