Cuckoo Rebrand & Digital Experience Overhaul

Context & Challenge

Cuckoo is on a mission to change broadband for good — faster, fairer, and with a positive impact on the world.

While our service was highly rated, our previous brand identity lacked the distinctiveness to compete with industry giants like BT and Virgin.‍

The challenge:

Create a bold, recognisable brand that reflects Cuckoo’s personality and values.
Translate the brand into a digital experience that increases conversion and builds trust.
Establish a scalable design system for rapid growth.

See website

My Role

As the second Product Design hire and the UI/UX lead in the newly formed Growth Squad, I:

Led the translation of the new brand identity (created with Studio Output) into a cohesive digital experience.

Designed and implemented a new design system to support rapid iteration across web properties.

Worked closely with a copywriter to ensure Cuckoo’s playful tone of voice carried through to digital touchpoints.

Partnered with cross-functional teams — Marketing, Legal, Customer Care, Engineering — to align the rebrand with business goals and compliance needs.

Approach & Process

Discovery

Reviewed brand audit findings and analytics from the existing site.
Mapped conversion drop-off points and identified UX friction in the purchase funnel.
Collaborated with Marketing to define key brand messages for digital audiences.

Design Translation

Developed UI patterns to embody Cuckoo’s bold visual style while maintaining accessibility standards (AA compliance).
Created interaction and motion guidelines to bring energy to the experience without impacting performance.

Design System Creation

Built a scalable component library (“Yolk”) with documented usage guidelines for designers and engineers.
Standardised typography, colour, iconography, and responsive behaviour.

Collaboration & Validation

Worked alongside Legal to ensure content and CTAs met regulatory requirements.
Partnered with Customer Care to ensure messaging aligned with real-world customer questions.
Conducted usability testing on key flows (homepage, plan selection, checkout) to validate clarity and engagement.

Outcome

Successfully launched the rebranded cuckoo.co, synchronised with national marketing campaigns.

Featured in It’s Nice That, Creative Review, and Design Week — increasing brand credibility in the UK tech/creative sectors.

Supported rollout of billboard and YouTube campaigns, helping brand awareness climb significantly.

Reflection & Next Steps

This project demonstrated the value of tight alignment between brand expression and UX performance.

While the visual overhaul improved recognition and engagement, I learned the importance of continuously testing tone of voice — especially in support and onboarding contexts where clarity outweighs playfulness.

The design system has since enabled rapid rollout of new landing pages and campaign content, and we continue to evolve components based on performance data.