WORK / VEME / BRAND & PROOF OF CONCEPT
Bringing VEME's vision to life with a new brand and proof of concept
VEME (Vehicle Exchange Made Easy) is an Australian platform that makes buying and selling second-hand cars privately safe, simple and secure.
Upgrowth created the VEME brand from the ground up. We developed the brand strategy, named the company, designed the visual identity and logo, and built VEME’s first website in Webflow. Alongside the brand, we mapped the end-to-end experience, designed a mobile app prototype showing how VEME would guide both sides through a private car sale, and a web portal prototype to show how admin would manage the transactions.
We developed the brand and the proof of concept as one project because each depended on the other. The name and identity had to express what the product promised, and the prototype had to show investors that the promise could work. VEME used the brand, website and prototype to pitch to investors and raise capital for its first product, which Upgrowth then went on to design and build.
Brand Positioning & Naming
VEME’s purpose is to advance trust in the world, making it a safe and secure place for all to be. We positioned VEME as the wise, qualified guide in a private sale, an expert that feels approachable, warm and trustworthy. The name follows the same idea. VEME stands for Vehicle Exchange Made Easy, and it also sounds like a person’s name, which gives the brand a friendly personality from the very first mention.
Brand Identity
The main players in Australia’s second-hand car market lean heavily on corporate blues. We took VEME the other way, leading with a bright, warm and striking yellow that’s paired with a grounding neutral palette. We created a smiling car icon that makes the brand feel approachable, accessible and joyful. We wrote a tone of voice that’s reassuring, grounded, simple and friendly, and brought it all together in the VEME Brand Guidelines so the team and its partners can apply the brand consistently.
Website Design & Build
VEME’s first website was designed for investors. It needed to look professional and credible, show the value of the platform and prove the team understood the problem and the people they were building for. We kept it simple and light, with five pages covering home, about, buyers and sellers, lenders and contact, designed and built in Webflow.
Experience Design
We mapped the end-to-end journey for buyers and sellers, from onboarding and ID verification to vehicle checks, the sales agreement, payment and ownership transfer. The map helped us work through the complexity in each user flow and became the blueprint for the proof of concept.
Proof of Concept
We designed a mobile app prototype showing how VEME would guide buyers and sellers through a vehicle transaction. We built a design system using the new brand so that we could move quickly and create consistency in the prototype. The prototype gave investors a clear picture of how the brand’s promise would work in practice.
Outcome: Capital Raised and a National Launch
The initial brand, website and prototype that we created gave VEME what it needed to pitch to investors and raise capital for its first product. VEME then came back to Upgrowth to design and build the full platform, using the brand and proof of concept as the foundation for the design.
Upgrowth created the VEME name, logo, visual identity, tone of voice, brand guidelines, first website and proof of concept. Since then, Thirst Creative and Jen Doran have developed the brand further, creating the VEME mascot, the current marketing website and the marketing video.
The VEME platform has launched nationally as Australia’s first platform to bring private car sale compliance into a single digital product. Australians can now buy and sell used cars privately with the same safety and confidence they’d expect from a licensed dealership.
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