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Generative AI platform Leonardo.Ai has launched a new brand identity, demystifying the world of artificial intelligence to make the technology feel accessible for all. As AI becomes increasingly ingrained in our everyday workflows, Leonardo is repositioning itself as a creator-first platform shaped by the power of human creativity.
The best rebrands often define a new era for a brand, and Leonardo.Ai's new identity is no different. Supporting every workflow from exploration to final execution, the platform is a beacon of creative empowerment, inviting users to embrace curiosity and playfulness.
Dwayne Koh is head of creative at Leonardo.Ai. Throughout his career, he has crafted immersive brand experiences that connect culture, drive engagement, and push innovation forward. His diverse portfolio covers many creative mediums, from digital ecosystems and e-commerce platforms to brand storytelling and experiential design.
Built in collaboration with creative agency Koto, Leonardo.Ai's rebrand is shaped by the philosophy "Yours to Create", reflecting the innate creativity in everyone that can be boosted by AI. "Leonardo was built on the idea that everyone is creative," Dwayne Koh, head of creative at Leonardo.Ai, tells Creative Bloq.
"Rather than something that’s rare and reserved for certain people, it’s something that’s instinctive and shows up in all of us. So ‘Yours to Create’ is our way of saying ‘you bring the imagination, the taste, the creative intent, and we’ll build the tools that make it possible for you bring your ideas to life.’
At the same time, ‘Yours to Create’ is about ownership. For a long time, the conversation in AI has been about what the technology can do. How powerful it is, how impressive the output is. But we feel now it’s less about that, and more about what you can do with it. AI shouldn’t feel like it’s creating for you. It should feel like it’s a partner, something that helps you explore, experiment and push ideas to their furthest limits. We believe it should always be about keeping human judgment at the centre of it all," he continues.
Centring on "confidence, control and the empowerment of the creator," the new brand identity is a distinct shift from its old brand positioning. "I think early on, our brand was very much speaking to the first wave of AI adopters. The people who were deep in experimentation and genuinely excited by the raw, emerging nature of the tech. And the visual language reflected that. It leaned into a lot of the cues that were synonymous with early generative AI. More futuristic, more overtly ‘AI’, a bit more experimental," explains Dwayne.
"But the audience has changed pretty dramatically. We’re now speaking to a much wider creative community of people who are using AI as part of real workflows, not just experimenting with it on the side. So it felt important that the brand matured with that shift and started speaking their language. In the rebrand, we were really intentional about moving away from some of the visual clichés that defined that early era. Instead, we wanted something that felt grounded in creative craft. The technology is powerful, but it’s not the hero. The creator is," he adds.
The rebrand coincides with the launch of Leonardo.Ai's API – a tool that allows users to create in Leonardo’s intuitive web platform, then extract the exact code needed to replicate those results in their own applications. But attracting a fresh audience of AI users doesn't come without risk – there are always those who will be wary of embracing the technology.
"I don’t think you should try to win over AI sceptics through branding alone. A lot of scepticism around AI is valid - people are worried about ownership, authorship, originality, jobs, creative integrity. So I think the worst thing you can do as a brand in this space is just gloss over the hype with glossy videos and visuals," Dwayne says.
"Through branding, you signal what you believe. For us, it always comes back to respect. Rather than celebrate automation or the technology itself, we celebrate the people, the creators, using the tools. That’s why our manifesto video explores the infinite possibilities of ideas that creators can unlock with our tools.
We talk about control and craft, and we show the tool as a collaborator, not a replacement. And that’s not just about branding; that’s the core belief that everything at Leonardo is built on. Branding sets the tone, and the product has to back it up. If someone uses our platform and feels more creative agency, not less, that’s what shifts perception," Dwayne explains.
It wasn't a project without complications, as Dwayne explains, the evolution required careful balance to preserve the brand's spirit. "Our early identity was shaped in that first wave of AI experimentation. It was very ‘of that moment.’ As our platform became popular with a much broader creative community, the brand needed to mature. So our challenge was growing up without becoming generic and finding a way to honour our roots at the same time.
It’s also challenging to create a brand in a space that’s evolving so quickly. The tools, the tech, people’s expectations - everything is changing in real time. The brand needed to feel current, flexible and not tied to this moment in a way that will make it feel dated in 6 months’ time. The question for us was, how do we communicate what we stand for, regardless of where the next 10 model releases land us?" Dwayne says.
Throughout the project, there were many elements that were a subject of pride for Dwayne and his team. "First, I’m proud of the speed at which we made the work, and how AI was a huge tooling factor in what we did – especially in things like the manifesto video, where AI was completely embedded in the process," he says.
"I’m also really proud of how small the core team was. It was a really tight group that made all this work. The level of craft matters to me, too. Even with AI in the process, the execution was deeply human, and I’m proud of the quality of work here, which was all driven by humans. I’m proud of the robust design system that included the creation of a new set of fonts, which was really fun.
And maybe most importantly, I’m proud of the process and the fun we all had in making this work (which is rarer than it should be in this industry). At the end of the day, the brand feels like a bit of a love letter to the creative community, and feels like a responsibility to keep championing that," Dwayne concludes.
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