Last9 is an observability platform that helps engineering teams monitor, troubleshoot, and scale their systems without drowning in noisy alerts.
01 ABOUT
Role
UI Design
Brand Design
Illustration
Marketing
I built the brand identity and refreshed it as the company evolved. I led the brand, UI, and marketing design systems working closely with the team to translate complex technical ideas into something clear and meaningful for SREs, DevOps engineers, and platform teams.
Anything that needed a designer’s thinking (and doing), I usually stepped in. From core brand work to scrappy special projects, I focused on keeping everything sharp, consistent, and genuinely reflective of who we were becoming.
TIMELINE
2022 - 2025
Brief
When I joined Last9, the founders Nishant and Piyush had a clear vision: build an observability platform that doesn't break the bank as you scale. They'd both been SREs and lived through the frustrations of existing monitoring tools.
My brief was simple but ambitious: shape a brand and design system that truly resonated with this audience, one that felt credible, thoughtful, and built by people who genuinely understood their world.
02 PROCESS
Discovery
EXPLORATION
03 BRANDING
Language
Every decision was made with engineers in mind.
I tested multiple color routes across dark/light UI and marketing. Signal Green and Electric Blue felt modern, technical, and easy on the eyes for long dashboard hours.
The rounded “9” became our anchor. It also nods to reliability: the more 9s, the better the uptime. That idea felt worth visualizing.
H5 - 24px
ICONS
I designed a set of pixel-style icons on an 18-bit grid to stay aligned with the dev-inspired visual language. They were bright, and high-contrast especially against dark backgrounds.
They helped break up dense technical sections on the website and marketing pages adding small moments of clarity and playfulness between heavier content.
MASCOT
The cat felt natural. Developers love cats, well who doesn't. :)
We made it our “observability data cat”, always watching, always alert. Designed in pixel art to keep it rooted in dev culture. Playful, but not gimmicky.
IMAGES
I chose dithered back and white styled images which can be used to add texture and visuals in product screenshots and marketing creatives.
04 USER INTERFACE
HOMEPAGE
The homepage needed to quickly communicate what Last9 does and why engineers should care.
I designed the Last9 homepage to explain the product’s value fast, using a clear problem-to-solution flow tailored for engineers.
The dark, tech-first look mixed with subtle pixel art keeps it sharp, readable, and human.
PRICING
The pricing page is structured around three clear plans, with a custom tier supported by a price slider to make it feel flexible and transparent.
Testimonials, G2 badges, and a detailed comparison table were added to build trust and help teams evaluate quickly without friction.
BLOG
Clean, structured, and easy to scan.
The main content led with headline, description, date, and author. A side table of contents highlighted your current section as you scrolled.
A subtle sticky CTA stayed visible, and tags plus author details closed the post. Built for focused, technical reads.
404
05 merch
This might sound small, but it mattered a lot.
We didn’t want typical tech swag which usually involves cheap fabric, giant logo, straight to the bottom of a drawer. So we flipped it. We made good quality basics with real engineer humor that actually lands.
My favorite was the “I eat high cardinality for breakfast” tee. Only SREs would get it and that was the point. It became a kind of inside joke badge in the community.
Over time, the merch took on a life of its own. At events, people recognized our tees, totes, and stickers instantly. Sometimes we’d walk into client meetings and they’d already be wearing Last9 merch. We’d even randomly spot strangers in our t-shirts.
That was a big win. The brand wasn’t just seen, it was worn.
06 LEARNINGS
Authenticity takes effort
You can’t fake knowing engineers. Time spent in communities, reading threads, and having real conversations made the difference.
Systems matter
Building a design system early saved time and kept everything consistent as we scaled.
Community isn’t decoration
The pixel art, the cat, the inside jokes, they worked because they came from within the culture, not outside of it.
Be straightforward
Clear pricing, real screenshots, honest comparisons. Engineers respect clarity.
Quality shows respect
Fast website. Good fabric. Thoughtful details. It all adds up.
Iteration is normal
Plenty didn’t work at first: colors, concepts, directions. That’s part of it.
Working on Last9 taught me a lot about designing for technical audiences. The best feedback came from engineers. When they wore our t-shirts by choice. When they shared our content because they found it useful. Those moments showed that we'd created something meaningful.
Design isn't just about aesthetics. It's about understanding people, respecting them, and creating experiences that feel authentic. When you get that right, everything else follows.
