Brand
Working alone shouldn’t mean working it all out alone. Freelance Unlocked gives independent professionals a room to meet in, and the brand is how that feels before anyone walks through the door.
Who we are
Freelance Unlocked is a Berlin-based organisation that brings freelance knowledge workers together through community channels and events. It was founded by 3 online freelance communities, 9am, Uplink and freelancermap, with a mission of giving people a place to meet in person, something their online communities couldn’t offer.
We focus on the business of freelancing, not individual professions. Our audience includes people starting out and people with years of experience. Design for what they share, without assuming they all do the same work.
Values
Our values guide decisions about everything we make, from ticket pages and newsletters to stage screens. Use them to check the work before it goes out.
Community first
Give people reasons to connect and come back. Building lasting relationships matters more than pushing the next ticket sale.
Honest by default
Say what is true, even when a bigger claim might sell more. Check every deadline, price and availability claim before publishing it.
Useful before impressive
Give people something they can use. Show what a talk, post or page offers instead of relying on impressive-sounding promises.
People at the centre
Show real attendees, speakers and conversations. Our community is the subject, not a backdrop for marketing.
Building trust and a long-time relationship with our community is more important than making a quick profit. This is why we don’t use dark patterns: misleading or manipulative designs that push people into choices they wouldn’t otherwise make.
- Real deadlines. Publish deadlines that are real. Never use a countdown that resets on each visit.
- Honest availability. Show accurate ticket availability. Don’t invent scarcity to encourage a purchase.
- The full price. Show the full price, including VAT and fees, before checkout.
- A real choice. Leave newsletter opt-ins unchecked. Make declining and unsubscribing straightforward.
Character
The Four Keys define the character of Freelance Unlocked. They guide how we write, design and shape events, including each year’s FUN theme.
Choose the key that matters most for the piece you’re making. Every piece needs at least 1, but not all 4.
See Applications for how this character appears in design and Voice and tone for how it sounds in writing.
Independence & agency
Freelancers choose how they work and where they want to go. Show independence as freedom to make decisions, not as a reason to do everything alone.
Connection & belonging
Freelance Unlocked gives independent people a place to meet. Show genuine interactions and the value of being in the same room.
Progress & possibility
People come to improve how they run their businesses. Focus on practical opportunities, new ideas and steps they can take, without promising results we can’t guarantee.
Energy & playfulness
We take freelance business seriously without making everything formal. Use humour and unexpected details where they help the message, not at the expense of clarity.
Our personality
Our personality defines how we want to be perceived. These examples show how to strike the right balance and which extremes to avoid.
- Independent and connected. We celebrate individual freedom and the value of community.
- Playful and mature. We make room for humour without becoming childish.
- Professional and approachable. We take care with the details without feeling corporate.
- Ambitious and accessible. We encourage progress without making anyone feel excluded.
How the brand is built
A brand is shaped by every interaction people have with it, not just by its visual identity. For Freelance Unlocked, that includes our website, social media, flyers, newsletters, conversations and events.
Our flagship conference, FUN, is the most visible expression of the brand, but it’s only one part of it. Different formats and events have different needs, and FUN itself changes from year to year. Our identity needs to adapt without losing what makes it recognisable.
That’s why we divide our visual identity into two connected layers: the core brand and the extended brand.
Core brand
The shared foundation of our identity. It provides continuity across different events, formats and years. It’s designed to last, evolving gradually and deliberately rather than being reinvented with every new event.
Extended brand
The more flexible part of our identity, including FUN and satellite events. It gives each event room to develop its own character, respond to its context and introduce something new, while remaining connected to the core brand.
Design principles
Use these principles when the specific rules leave you with a choice. Recognition comes first. The work must also feel carefully made, practical and connected to the people who attend.
Recognisable first
Start with the core identity. Don’t trade recognisability for novelty.
One core, many expressions
Keep the institutional identity consistent in its own pieces. FUN can reinterpret its visual elements for an edition, while satellite events follow a closer shared system. Each event’s guidance sets out how it stays connected.
Considered, not corporate
Check the details and finish the work properly. Avoid making it look either improvised or over-produced.
People at the centre
Apply our community value to the design. Let real people and interactions lead wherever they are relevant.
Built to be reused
Work with templates rather than isolated designs. If you make something twice, turn it into a reusable template.
