YC
Redesign
Concept
Landing Pages
Visual Identity
Motion
Graphics

About the Concept

Y Combinator is one of the world’s leading startup accelerators, helping launch over 4,000 companies, including Airbnb, Coinbase, Dropbox, Reddit, Stripe, and more.
Problem
  • The website needed a refresh to stay up-to-date
  • Inconsistent visual identity across platforms
Problem
We standardized the visual guidelines and updated the website to reflect Y Combinator’s legacy.
Smiling man wearing a black cap and hoodie, with a blurred outdoor background.
Roman
Art Director
Portrait of a light-skinned woman with blonde hair, wearing a black top, smiling gently in outdoor natural light.
Alex
Brang Manager

& Case Study Editor
Oleh
Brand Designer

& Case Study Editor
Headshot of a young man with short blond hair wearing a dark shirt against a gray background.
Kyrylo
Product Designer & Case Study Editor
Close-up portrait of a young man with short brown hair and light facial hair, wearing a white shirt, indoors near a window and a wall with a framed picture.
Tymur
Product Designer
Nikita
Product Designer
Angelica
Motion Designer
nika
Nika
Brand designer
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Industry
Tech/VC
Location
🇺🇸 U.S.A.
Duration
2 month
Plans
Pro & 1 to 1

Visual Identity

Work began with organizing YC’s visual identity, preserving its inherent style. We aimed to unify all existing elements into a cohesive system, establishing a solid foundation.
Branding board featuring Y Combinator logo, color palette, typography, grid system, social media post design, and co-branding rules.

Website Redesign

Our main goal was to refresh the website and convert visitors into applicants by optimizing the flow and highlighting YC’s values and culture.
Y Combinator homepage showing a diverse audience clapping, with statistics highlighting 5,000 funded startups and $600 billion combined valuation, and logos of top YC companies like Stripe, Airbnb, and Coinbase at the bottom.
Y Combinator webpage with header navigation, headline about mentorship and investment, email entry field, and video thumbnails featuring three presenters.
Y Combinator webpage with header navigation, headline about mentorship and investment, email entry field, and video thumbnails featuring three presenters.
Messaging & CTA
We crafted the copy to help founders understand 'Why YC' and added an input field with a one-click CTA.
Social Proof
Integrated portfolio company logos like AirBnb, Twitch, Reddit and others to enhance credibility.
Videos
To make it more engaging, we added a video carousel with an intro from YC’s CEO and founder testimonials.
Three white panels with blue headings describing YC Top Companies by Revenue, YC Library videos and podcasts, and the Standard Deal investment of $500,000.
Grid of logos of top YC companies including Stripe, Airbnb, Instacart, DoorDash, Cruise, Twitch, Coinbase, PagerDuty, Faire, Brex, Deel, Rippling, Reddit, Gusto, Flexport, Dropbox, Razorpay, Scale, GitLab, Benchling, Fivetran, Rappi, Checkr, Zapier, Whatnot, Podium, Webflow, Zepto, Groww, Segment, Ironclad, with text 'We help founders make something people want and the results speak for themselves.' below.
Grid of logos from startups funded by Y Combinator, including Instacart, Airbnb, Doordash, Stripe, Twitch, Brex, Coinbase, GitLab, Webflow, Razorpay, Gusto, Rappi, Dropbox, Rippling, Reddit, Fivetran, Zapier, Deel, Flexport, Checkr, Whatnot, Algolia, Zepto, Scale, Ironclad, PagerDuty, Amplitude, Flock Safety, Podium, Benchling, Meesho, Segment, Truebill, Scribd, Groww, Matterport, Mixpanel, ShipBob, SmartAsset, Bird, Bellabeat, Newfront, Faire, Nowports, Oklo, and Weave.
Logos of top YC companies including Stripe, Airbnb, Instacart, DoorDash, Cruise, Twitch, Coinbase, PagerDuty, Faire, Brex, Deel, Rippling, Reddit, Gusto, Flexport, Dropbox, Razorpay, Scale, GitLab, Benchling, Fivetran, Rappi, Checkr, Zapier, Whatnot, Podium, Webflow, Zepto, Groww, Segment, Ironclad, and a plus sign.
Highlighting Top YC Companies
We created a full-width layout by adding more alumni and a visually impactful block featuring top YC companies, enhancing credibility with a strong header.
Text infographic presenting key stats on how a program helps founders succeed, improve startup success rate, fundraising, and create billion-dollar companies.
Infographic titled 'The results of our help speak for themselves' showing four columns with statistics about startup success: 1) 54% of YC's billion-dollar companies had no revenue when applying, 52% of founders were under 28, 42% applied with only an idea; 2) 39% raised Series A, 18% valued over $100M, 5% became billion-dollar companies; 3) YC companies raise funds at 2.5x higher valuation, median raises $1.3M plus $14M valuation cap, top 10% raise $1.8M plus $20M cap; 4) YC has funded 90+ billion-dollar companies, 66% had YC as first investor, YC companies have average 15B market cap at exit, 3x higher than average.
Infographic titled 'The results of our help speak for themselves' showing four columns of statistics about startup success: 1) Founders' age and revenue stats including 54% had no revenue and 42% applied with only an idea. 2) Success rates with 39% raised Series A and 5% became billion-dollar companies. 3) Fundraising advantages showing 2.5x higher valuation and median company raising $1.3M plus $14M valuation cap. 4) Startups becoming billion-dollar companies with YC funding 90+ billion-dollar companies and 66% had YC as first investor.
YC benefits include experienced partners mentoring startups, a vast investor network, a private social network for founders, and exclusive deals with leading software companies.
Collage highlighting YC startup founders community benefits with photos of partners, investor event, company logos, group of founders, outdoor advice session, and team-building meeting.
Collage showing YC startup community features with group photos, logos of companies, and people in meetings.
Large diverse group of people posing together indoors against an orange wall.Large diverse group of people posing together in a brightly lit room with red walls and carpet.
Clean and Contextual Updates
In the section above we kept the original YC cards but made them cleaner, more modern, and easier to scan. All titles and descriptions about the advantages of being part of the YC community are displayed on one screen.
Slide titled 'We put founders' interests first' with bullet points describing investment principles and three photos showing groups of people in discussion and listening attentively.
Webpage titled 'Is YC Worth 7%?' featuring a video thumbnail with two men under a Y Combinator sign and testimonials from Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, Brian Chesky, and Patrick Collison praising Y Combinator.
Reinforcing the YC Community
This section reinforces social proof by showcasing large images of community members like Marc Andreessen (a16z), Patrick Collison (Stripe), and others, along with  logos and names.
Hand-drawn graph titled 'The Process' depicting a startup's emotional or growth journey with labeled phases including Tech Crunch of Initiation, Wearing off of Novelty, Trough of Sorrow, Releases of Improvement, Crash of Ineptitude, Wiggles of False Hope, Acquisition of Liquidity, the Promised Land, Upside of Buyer, and Space of Misunderstood Human Emotions.Two people standing and discussing in front of a whiteboard surrounded by framed photographs on a white wall.
Testimonials from community members Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, Brian Chesky, and Patrick Collison praising Y Combinator's impact on startups and entrepreneurship.
Five headshots of men arranged horizontally with a quote below stating, 'Y Combinator is the best program for creating top-end entrepreneurs that has ever existed.' - Marc Andreessen, General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz.
Portrait of a bald man wearing a black sweater over a white collared shirt, smiling with his hands clasped.Smiling man with short light hair wearing a dark blue shirt in front of a neutral background.Smiling elderly man with white hair and glasses wearing a blue shirt and dark jacket against a light background.Smiling man with short dark hair wearing a dark blue shirt against a light grey background.Smiling man with short hair and a beard wearing a gray blazer and blue checkered shirt against a light background.
Reinforcing the YC Community
This section reinforces social proof by showcasing large images of community members like Marc Andreessen (a16z), Patrick Collison (Stripe), and others, along with  logos and names.
YC Latest content featuring video thumbnails of discussions on enterprise resource planning, open source companies, machine learning, founder burnout, and LLMs, plus podcasts on AI models, scaling business practices, and new tech businesses.
Text reading Make something people want with instructions to press Y to apply to W25, highlighting YC's resources, guidance, and community.
Y Combinator footer with options to learn more including YC Library, Newsletter, Launch YC, Work at a Startup, Blog, and Co-Founder Matching, plus links to Programs, Company, and Resources sections, and an apply button.
Y Combinator footer with sections for Frequently asked questions, Requests for Startups, Launch YC, Work at a startup, Blog, and Co-founder matching, plus links for Programs, Company, Resources, and a newsletter subscription form.
Y Combinator footer with options to learn more including YC Library, Newsletter, Launch YC, Work at a Startup, Blog, and Co-Founder Matching, plus links to Programs, Company, and Resources sections, and an apply button.
A black square with a large letter Y in the center splits a narrow beam of white light on the left into a rainbow spectrum on the right, labeled 'Before and After Y Combinator'.
Summary
Our concept unified brand guidelines, modernized the site, and optimized the applicant flow.
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Smiling man with glasses and beard standing next to a woman with long hair and sunglasses.

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decorative image in cta block