Client: Nufarm
Studio: Newpath
Role: Strategy Director & Stakeholder Engagement

Aligning Nufarm’s Global Digital Presence

Nufarm, a global agricultural leader, set out to bring consistency and clarity to its digital presence within a greater business shift. The goal was to implement a unified visual identity across more than 50 websites in over 20 countries, covering both the core Nufarm brand and its seed innovation-focused subsidiary, Nuseed. The new logos, colours, and core guidelines were provided by Nufarm’s global team. The real challenge was implementation at scale: applying the new identity across dozens of content-rich websites, each built and managed differently, without disrupting structure, content, or user experience.

A Global Shift with Strategic Weight

At first glance, the project might appear purely visual: updating fonts, button styles, hover states, logos, and layout styling to match the new brand. But because the underlying website frameworks were to remain untouched, every design decision had to work within rigid technical limits. There would be no new templates, no restructured navigation, and no re-platforming. The updates had to be surgically applied, and that made the details matter even more.

I started by mapping a representative selection of live websites, cataloguing every visible and hidden design element. From favicons to icon styles, rollover behaviours, heading treatments, and legacy colour codes, each component was then documented and evaluated against the new brand guidelines by the design team. One key gap quickly became clear: accessibility. The original brand specifications hadn’t fully considered WCAG compliance, so many colours lacked the contrast ratios required for legibility across all users and devices.

To close this gap, the team worked directly with the Nufarm Global Communications Team to find an approach that kept the essence of the brand but brought it up to AA standards, carefully testing these updates in both Figma and live HTML environments. What might seem like minor visual adjustments, such as slightly darker greens for buttons or new spacing for paragraph text, became crucial to preserving readability and performance across different screen sizes and layouts. These changes had to work cleanly without causing layout shifts or unexpected breaks.

Orchestrating a Global Rollout

With the design mapping in place, I developed a detailed implementation plan that supported a seamless rollout across five continents. The model followed a three-tier ownership structure:

• Newpath, our development partner, applied and tested the updated styles, fixed responsiveness issues, and maintained performance across platforms.
• Brand Owners, mainly from the global marketing team, reviewed visual consistency and ensured the updated brand was applied accurately.
• Site Owners, based in regional teams across APAC, EMEA, the Americas, and Nuseed, conducted final content and visual checks. Their reviews included embedded media such as PDFs, images, and videos, which often required manual identification and follow-up.

Each group received a tailored support pack, including annotated checklists, example screenshots, accessibility tips, and communication templates. I designed the process so that non-technical reviewers could confidently spot and report issues, even without admin access or design backgrounds.

Our General manager set up a reporting process whereby issues were submitted via a JIRA ticket system, allowing global visibility and quick triage. Reports were categorised by browser, device, screen resolution, and URL, making it easier to diagnose universal problems and deploy fixes that applied across the shared codebase.

The global rollout was completed in a single coordinated release. Each region was assigned a specific deployment window, with downtime capped at four hours, ensuring minimal disruption and no need for rollback. The go-live was considered a success across all teams, with no critical issues reported.

Designing a Repeatable Framework

One of the most valuable outcomes was not just the aligned websites, but the framework that emerged through the process. Drawing on this experience, I developed a Brand Application Process model that has since been adopted by Newpath for use in future brand alignment projects requiring scalable, low-disruption rollout strategies.

It outlines how to:

• Assess brand guidelines for digital environments and accessibility
• Map and catalogue existing styles across legacy sites
• Simulate changes in both Figma and real-world HTML views
• Surface and resolve design conflicts before deployment

Because of this, future brand updates, even those with complex constraints, now have a roadmap for implementation that is both flexible and robust.

What Changed

After launch, the most visible change was consistency. Logos rendered correctly across every screen size. Buttons followed the same brand palette from Brazil to Vietnam. Hover states and navigation bars behaved predictably, and Nuseed had been officially renamed and incorporated into the new Nufarm brand.

Internally, there was a shift too. Inconsistencies that had previously gone unnoticed were now being spotted and resolved. The mindset changed: brand consistency became embedded in day-to-day operations.

It also raised expectations. The project set a new standard for accessibility, quality control, and shared accountability across the organisation. Collaboration improved between regions and global teams, and the digital brand is now seen not just as a guideline, but as a shared asset.

This was a strategic act of alignment, carefully planned, executed with precision, and built to last. By focusing on structure, clarity, and collaboration, we delivered a brand experience that speaks with one voice across the globe. It is a reminder that design doesn’t always mean reinventing, it can be about building on and improving existing frameworks to maximise their value.