Delphi
Summary
Delphi is an AI-powered tool designed to support entrepreneurs in tackling the most challenging aspect of online visibility: consistently coming up with stuff to write about. Delphi helps users come up with original content ideas that foster business growth.
Deliverables
Foundational branding
UI-design
Avatar illustration
Year
2025
How it started
“Hi! We’re two entrepreneurs building a digital platform and we need some foundational branding elements: a simple logo, color palette, typography — and an avatar for our AI bot Delphi. Nothing too fancy please, because we’re not making any money yet. Can you help us?
Chapter 1: Foundational branding
In search of the story
To inspire the creative process, I invited Karlijn and Sander to a deep dive into their company’s story. I asked them where they first got their idea and why following it through was so important to them, but I was also curious about their mission, core values, and ultimate ‘why’.
While they were talking, I carefully listened to the language they used to tell their story. I heard words like ‘fresh,’ ‘sparkling,’ ‘clear,’ and ‘fun’ — words that evoked the imagery of water in my mind.
After the session, I created a mood board with visuals that I felt aligned with Delphi’s desired brand image: clear colors, seashell shapes, water ripples and the warm feeling of sunshine.
Based on this visual direction, I proposed several options for color palettes and typography. Karlijn and Sander went with a palette that beautifully combines sparkling blues with a sunny shade of orange and a warm pink.
The final color palette
In designing the avatar, I prioritized the appearance at a very small size. For this reason, the shadows in her face are intentionally exaggerated and I didn’t add too many details. They would only make the image appear blurry on such a small scale.
Chapter 2: The avatar
The creation of Delphi
For Delphi’s avatar, I drew inspiration from mermaids. Her skin is light blue, her hair flows around her face like ocean waves and she’s wearing a large pearl earring. The resemblance is there, but it’s not overly literal.
A few months later
“Hi again! We’ve come a long way since we last talked. The user flow now works exactly as we want, but we let AI build our UI and it’s lacking the distinct ‘Delphi feel’ we had hoped to achieve. Can you help out?”
Chapter 3: Visual design
Bringing the story to life
Karlijn and Sander told me that Delphi had been a chatbot in an earlier version of the platform. It therefore felt fitting to give this second iteration a conversational feel.
This is why Delphi’s avatar and text bubbles are integrated throughout the UI: if there’s a message coming from the system, Delphi is the one that ‘voices’ that message. On top of that, the content creation process unfolds step by step, like a chat would.
To fully integrate Delphi’s story, I applied the color palette exactly as I had envisioned it: soft hues of sunny yellow in light mode versus deep, dark tones in dark mode. As a bonus, I made the subscription upgrade option more prominent and created a fitting illustration for the login page.
Chapter 4: The landing page
Bringing it all together
To create a user experience that’s cohesive across all touchpoints, the landing page also got a make-over. I applied the color palette in the same way as I did on the platform and created a wavy section divider to add some visual interest to the page.
Epilogue
Personal reflection
I am really proud of the difference I was able to make in this project. The AI-generated UI really lacked personality, but the final version has an amazing feel to it. In light mode, Delphi is warm and bright, while in dark mode, it feels as if we’re deep beneath the water’s surface — perfectly aligning with the story Karlijn and Sander wanted to tell.
UX-principles encourage me to use as few words as possible, but there’s a lot more to this project that I’d love to share! If you’re curious to hear more, let's schedule a call to dive into the details.