I'm feeling a bit nervous writing this blog after ages. I'm Sugimoto from the Creative Office at KINTO Technologies (KTC for short).

In 2024, on our third year since the company was founded, we gave our corporate website a full redesign. Three years after our founding, the project began when the HR team requested a new recruitment-focused website to help attract more people to join us in the future.

Since the corporate website is centered around recruitment, we interviewed not only the Human Resources team but also members of management to understand the company's direction, as well as engineers from the Developer Relations Group to capture voices from the front lines.

Questions like “What kind of people does the company truly want?” and “Who do we genuinely want to work with?” guided our conversations. As we listened to various perspectives—along with their challenges and aspirations—the purpose of the corporate website gradually came into focus.

"Let's create a website that shows what KTC is all about to engineers and creators who stay curious about technology, keep up with the latest trends, and take initiative." That goal shaped our concept.

The concept is "The Power of Technology & Creativity." We picked this word to reflect our drive to lead Toyota's mobility services through technology and creativity.

Setting a concept might feel like an extra step, but it gives everyone a shared point to return to, especially important when different roles are involved and the project starts to drift.

"Do we really need that feature?" "Can't we make it more engaging?" With this concept in place, even questions from a different angle make it easier to say, "That’s why we'll do it." Or, "That's why we won't."

Personality Settings

The next step for us was to define a brand personality, a clear picture of what kind of person the company would be, and how it would behave if it were human. (More on brand personality below.)

Creating a brand personality from the ground up takes time and effort, often requiring input from across the company. However, since the main goal of launching the corporate website was recruitment, speed was a priority. So we built on what was already in place within our company: our vision, values, culture, and work attitude.

The personality we landed on for KTC is, simply, "creator." As creators, we define ourselves as those who use technology and creativity to build the best products for our users: products that are intuitive, clear, thoughtful, and useful.

Creating an Exciting Mood Board

With the brand personality set, the next step is figuring out how to reflect that in the design of the corporate website. So, one more step! Before the lead designer jumped in, the whole Creative Office came together to build a mood board.

This gives us a visual anchor to return to; just like the concept itself, which helps keep things on track and makes the rest of the process smoother.

Each designer brought in visuals they felt captured the KTC vibe, and the mood board session turned into a lively exchange.

Creating a mood board also led to some new discoveries. I imagined the output would reflect the vibe of a shiny, fast-paced California tech company. But when we shifted our perspective to ask, 'Who are we, really?', the answer became clear: we are (or aspire to be) a professional engineering group that embraces the spirit of Japanese craftsmanship rooted in the Toyota Group’s <i>gemba</i> philosophy.

The mood board was inspired by globally recognized modern systems and our defined brand personality. Our goal was to create a corporate website that offered high usability while visually expressing our brand identity.

Achieving a Jump in Creativity and Efficiency

By clearly defining the website’s "personality," "mood," and "purpose," everything came together with a strong sense of consistency—from the photo tone and interview content to the copywriting and implementation. It really highlighted how that clarity can enhance both creativity and efficiency. It also made it easier to explain the design logically to non-designers, helping us put even abstract ideas into words.

Honored to Receive International Recognition

Our newly redesigned corporate website has received several international web design awards, including the prestigious CSS Design Awards.

We'd love for you to take a look. And if something clicks, we hope it sparks your interest in us!

Check out the website here!
https://www.kinto-technologies.com/

※What is brand personality?

It represents what kind of traits and personality a brand (or company) would have if it were a person. This is called its archetype. We use a common framework that breaks "personality" into 12 types. This helps us explore a company's character, thinking, behavior, and distinctive features. Having a clear brand personality makes it easier to present a consistent image. Even if the audience isn’t consumers, you can still leave a strong and unified impression on your target—whether it’s through a corporate website like this or event giveaways.