Humanity at work: Gusto brings a new brand to life with Figma | Figma Blog

Gusto used Figma to turn a brand refresh into a company-wide effort centered on the human experience of work. The collaboration brought marketing, brand, product, and non-design teams into the same workspace, helping them align on the new identity and apply it consistently across Gusto’s platform. Figma’s real-time collaboration, commenting, libraries, and components helped translate the brand into a scalable product system.

Why Gusto Rebranded

• Formerly ZenPayroll, Gusto serves more than 100,000 small businesses with payroll, benefits, and HR tools.
• Although customers valued the product, Gusto felt its existing brand did not reflect the human way it served them.
• The refresh aimed to unify brand awareness, product development, and customer experience.
• Gusto viewed its brand as the sum of every user interaction, not something owned solely by marketing or brand design.

Bringing the Whole Company Into the Process

• A major challenge was aligning roughly 1,000 employees around the new brand.
• Gusto chose Figma as a shared workspace where employees could:
  • See work develop in real time
  • Communicate and share ideas
  • Comment directly on designs
  • Take ownership of the rebrand
• Figma also helped non-designers understand the design process and appreciate design decisions.

Connecting Brand and Product Teams

• Brand and product design teams worked as equal partners through brainstorming sessions and workshops.
• They jointly developed:
  • Color palettes
  • Typography
  • Brand starter templates
  • Product applications of the new identity
• In collaborative sessions such as “Refresca,” designers applied the new brand to different product areas together in Figma.
• Early collaboration made it easier to carry the brand consistently through the entire product experience while highlighting meaningful moments in distinctive ways.

Building a Scalable Design System

• Gusto wanted a reliable “system of record” for how its products should look.
• The product design team created a UI kit using Figma libraries and components.
• The kit was based on the brand team’s guidelines and provided reusable foundations for multiple products.
• This system helped designers work consistently and scale the new brand as Gusto grew.

Gusto’s experience shows that a successful rebrand requires more than new visual guidelines. Shared tools and close collaboration can align an entire company, connect brand strategy to product design, and create a cohesive customer experience.