Designing the future of sustainable mobility

Polestar needed to build a car brand from scratch, with no legacy to rely on. Since 2019, we’ve worked alongside Polestar to make Polestar.com its single channel for sales, brand and information across 30+ markets, and to keep raising the bar for what a car brand can be online.

Polestar needed a digital brand with no legacy to build on

Polestar set out to become the guiding star of the automotive industry: lead by example on sustainability, innovation, and design, and transform mobility and society as we know it. In 2019, the company chose Hypersolid as its global digital partner to help build an electric performance car brand from scratch, with no existing legacy or playbook to follow.

The roadmap didn’t exist yet, so we wrote one

There was no “what’s been done before” to build on. The traditional automotive playbook of pushy dealerships and loud commercials wasn’t the model Polestar wanted anyway. Together, we made the call to create a whole new digital landscape from scratch, centered on one thing: Polestar.com as the brand’s single sales, brand and information channel.

Polestar.com, and a rollout across 30+ markets

We designed and built Polestar.com in six months, then supported a phased global rollout that grew to 30 markets in 2022. As Polestar brought more capabilities in-house, our role shifted to working alongside its own teams on the experiences that matter most. [CLIENT TO CONFIRM]

On the experience side, we delivered:

• Polestar.com, designed and launched as the brand’s single sales, brand and information channel, live within 6 months
• A full design system covering color palette, typography and imagery, applied consistently across every touchpoint
• Quarterly brand activations built on global toolkits with room for local nuance, alongside an evergreen content strategy
• Every touchpoint designed around customer aesthetics and aspirations, serving both a design appetite and a demand for sustainability

On the growth side, we delivered:

• Local rollouts expanded from 10 to 22 markets, and global presence from 20 to 30 markets in 2022
• Always-on performance marketing, shaped by local nuance and built to scale as markets grow
• Social media performance optimization with global toolkits and customizable local assets, pulling customers through to Polestar.com
• An operating model that lets Polestar enter new markets with different needs and budgets without rebuilding the foundation each time

The Polestar 5: a car website that plays like a film

In automotive, the website has become a commodity. For the Polestar 5, Polestar wanted the car to be an object of desire, the star of its own film. Polestar’s Experience Design team, led by head of design Andrea Malanski, brought the campaign’s French Riviera story to the web. We worked alongside them on product design, 3D prototyping and user testing, with final 3D assets by Brickland.

The page opens like a premiere: a film poster reveals the car, then turns into the configurator. The Polestar 5 digital experience received a Red Dot Grand Prix, the highest distinction in Brand & Communication Design.

From zero legacy to global scale, and a Red Dot Grand Prix

What started as a from-scratch brand build in 2019 is now a fully integrated digital ecosystem live in 30+ markets, with Polestar.com still the single home for sales, brand and information. The partnership has grown with Polestar’s ambitions instead of slowing them down. With the Polestar 5, it shows something else too: in an age of AI sameness, a disruptive idea and real craft still set a brand apart.