Case Study
DEALCART'S MAKEOVER
DC 2.0 — brand refresh for Pakistan’s group-buying commerce platform
Project overview
We recently unveiled DealCart DC 2.0 to our user base and followers. When you are dealing with a brand that touches the lives of over 15 million fabulously frugal folks in Karachi — and over 120 million across Pakistan — a refresh is never “just a logo change.”
Currently operating in Karachi with plans to expand to other cities, DealCart helps people score sweet deals on daily must-haves in a more fun and engaging way.
Why refresh?
Our “Deal + Cart” wordmark had served us well for a year — but a logo is only the tip of the branding iceberg. Users and the digital world evolve; the brand needed to evolve with them.
The approach
Not a from-scratch rebrand — **TLC on DC 1.0**: more playful, memorable, and consistent across every product and marketing channel.
DC 1.0 foundation
DealCart validated product–market fit before launch, shipped with an identity that was “good enough” — and that success gave us a strong starting point for DC 2.0.
Research & constraints
Customer interviews, digital data, and market research surfaced two strategic constraints:
Attachment to DC 1.0
Customers had strong positive association with the existing identity. A full overhaul risked diluting recognition and expensive re-education — enhancing what worked was optimal.
System-scale refresh
We needed coherence across every customer-facing surface — especially the app — with a visual system scalable across all products under the DealCart umbrella.
The beginning
Mission
Enable first-time internet users to save money on their groceries in a simple and engaging way so they can invest savings in a better future.
Early workshops surfaced many ambitions — affordable living, SEC B & C platforms, reinventing e-commerce for first-time shoppers, impacting 120M lives. We distilled focus instead of chasing every idea at once.
Brand DNA
Four keywords anchored every decision:
Brand pillars
The makeover
Logo refresh
We balanced weight in the bilingual wordmark, softened edges, and built the entire mark from one repeatable shape — critical for scalability across iconography, layouts, patterns, and illustrations.
The playful logo mark reuses that same shape: “D” and “C” from DealCart combine Deal + Cart with functional clarity. The signature Happy Arc represents joy in users’ daily lives — we are about spreading smiles.
Color
Research showed customers loved our multi-color heritage. We preserved classic charm with a vibrant tetradic palette — saturated hues of the originals, indigo blue as primary, purple shifted to tertiary for decorative and internal use. Colors mirror local markets, signboards, festivities, and home decor — deeply relatable in Pakistani culture.
Typography
After evaluating options across the ecosystem, Poppins became the workhorse: geometric sans-serif, versatile, readable, and aligned with confidence and clarity across app, web, and marketing.
DC 2.0 — final reveal
DC 2.0 embodies our mission: saving money on groceries for first-time internet users — simply and engagingly. The logo is the face; color, shapes, patterns, and photography complete recognition. Applied consistently from social to mobile app, the system delivers one cohesive experience.
What’s next
The redesign journey was the beginning. The real test is real-world marketing, product, and corporate applications — and how the message lands with customers, partners, and prospects over time.
Deliverables
DC 2.0 shipped as a full-system refresh:
- Refined bilingual wordmark and logo mark (Happy Arc)
- Scalable shape-based design system (icons, patterns, layouts)
- Tetradic color palette with indigo-led hierarchy
- Poppins typography across product and marketing
- Coherent application across app, web, and social
Product rollout supported by design thinking, research, and a 38-day product launch window.
Team & credits
DealCart was founded by Careem alumni Ammar Naveed and Haider Raza — the same energy that built Careem lives on here.
Asad Malik drove product with design-thinking and data. Amna Kara championed customer needs through the revamp. Usman Munier helped ship a brand-new product in 38 days. Marketing (Muhammad Salman, Laiba Jamil, Rushna Farrukh, Mohammad Hasan), product, engineering, and leadership across the org made DC 2.0 real — plus our customers on social and the Play Store who keep us honest.
Kudos to everyone who contributed directly or indirectly. This would not have been possible without you.
Tools & Process
Process combined research, iteration, and cross-functional alignment.
- Research
- Customer interviews, digital analytics, market research, and competitive context on attachment to DC 1.0.
- Design system
- Shape language, iconography, color strategy, typography (Poppins), and application guidelines across 5+ connected products.
- Collaboration
- Brand, product, marketing, and engineering — from mission definition through in-market DC 2.0 launch.
Originally published on LinkedIn Pulse, February 20, 2023.