SYLVAIN on preserving Etsy’s equity while evolving its identity

For most of its 20-year existence, Etsy occupied a specific place in people’s online habits – the site you went to when you wanted something handmade, vintage or slightly unusual. But by the time SYLVAIN was brought in, that position had narrowed. Research revealed that shoppers were arriving with a specific purchase already in mind, browsing less and discovering less. The platform that had once thrived as a destination for open-ended exploration was being used like any other online shop. The issue wasn’t that Etsy had lost customers – it was that the broader landscape had shifted around it. “There was a ubiquitousness around tailored online shopping and a lack of curiosity across the landscape overall,” explains Courtney Perets, Lead Designer at SYLVAIN. The New York-based strategy and design company was tasked with rebuilding the brand’s visual and verbal language from the ground up, all while preserving the recognition that two decades of community had earned. The project also involved sister agency Upstatement, who worked alongside SYLVAIN to integrate the new system directly into Etsy’s digital product experience. The strategic response crystallised around a phrase that would anchor every design decision: A starting point for special. The idea positioned Etsy not as a marketplace full of products but as a gateway – a place where both shoppers and sellers could begin something. SYLVAIN wanted to capture the vastness and diversity of Etsy’s community through something they called ‘The Universe of Special,’ a framework that tied the brand’s energy back to human curiosity and the specific, personal quality of what its sellers create.