FLEX Brand Refresh
A brand package for Cisco's early-in-career program, bringing cohesion, clarity, and energy to a program with 20+ years of history and 300+ participants.
Context
Background
The FLEX Program is Cisco's early-in-career program for professionals seeking careers in People (HR), Government & Policy, and Purpose-driven work. The program has been active for over 20+ years, with over 300+ participants and more than 100,000 candidates.
In its 20 years of existence, the program didn't have more than a logo in its asset library, created around 2016, and even that had issues.
What was wrong?
Missing brand assets
The program had a logo, but no other brand assets to use across communications and materials.
Outdated colors
In 2024, Cisco overhauled its corporate branding, which made the single FLEX brand asset look outdated.
Logo misuse
With only one asset and no clear usage guidance, the logo was manipulated in unapproved ways.
Inconsistent brand
The program referenced itself inconsistently, as Flex, FLEX, flex, or F.L.E.X.
Solution
In one month, the entire FLEX brand was built, from a single outdated logo to a complete, scalable identity system aligned with Cisco's refreshed corporate brand.
Drag the slider to compare the legacy wordmark with the refreshed logo.
Preview
Features
Details
Refreshed logos
New icon logo
Color alignment
Typography
Version control
Dos & Don'ts
Backgrounds
More
Strategic redesign
One of the biggest gaps in the brand was the lack of an icon for places where the full wordmark couldn't go, like merchandise, profile pictures, and event signage.
The FLEXicon is built entirely from the “x” in the logo, slightly rotated to represent FLEXers rotating across roles, finding, leading, and exploring their careers. Each mark reflects a FLEXer who completes the program.
Impact
Future State
The first release of the brand toolkit shipped in April 2026, but it's designed to grow. Planned updates include:
Email signatures and banners
Branded signature blocks and header banners so every program email looks consistent without manual formatting.
LinkedIn banners
Cover and profile assets employees can drop in to represent FLEX consistently across social channels.
PowerPoint templates
Slide masters, layouts, and type styles for decks that stay on-brand from the first slide to the last.
Claude/Cursor skills
Custom AI skills that generate on-brand copy and layouts using the guidelines as source of truth.
Access limited
This toolkit is only available for internal Cisco employees. If you're interested in it, please reach out for a private preview.