Every year in the UK, more than 800,000 manuscripts are sent to just 400 literary agents. For writers, finishing the book is the easy part. Getting anyone to read it is the real challenge. Publishers don’t have it much easier: acquiring editors gamble on the titles they think will sell, and nine times out of ten those books don’t earn out.
Libraro set out to fix discoverability by bringing readers into the process. Its community of readers, many of them writers too, gives feedback on manuscripts and rates them, and publishers use that data to find books that already have an audience. Underneath sits blockchain technology that protects every manuscript, so writers can share their work without fear of it being taken.
The idea only works if three very different groups believe in it at once, and Libraro needed a brand that could win them over before there was a finished product to show.
We started with a Brandscape, mapping the people Libraro had to convince. Stephanie is a budding writer with a story to tell, tired of sending manuscripts into silence. Judy is a part-time writer and full-time reader who wants a say in what gets published. Harper is an acquiring editor buried in submissions who knows most of her books won’t earn out. For each of them we set out what Libraro gives them, what it protects them from and what it stands for in their eyes.
That work became Libraro’s strategy statement: democratising the book industry by empowering authors, engaging readers and enlightening publishers to discover tomorrow’s bestseller. It set a tone of voice that is empowering yet humble and welcoming yet discerning, and one firm rule: lead with people and stories, not technology. The blockchain stays in the background, as the reason writers can trust the platform with their work.
Our strategists and designers then ran an intensive brand sprint, from logo concepts and colour to graphic elements, early UI visuals and a condensed set of brand rules. Two ideas stood out: Libro, a walking book in round glasses, and a flowing, annotated serif that turns lines like C.S. Lewis’s ‘We read to know we are not alone’ into posters.
The identity blends the timeless charm of literature with the sleekness of digital design and feels like a personal book collection: warm paper tones, a confident serif and ribbons that mark a place. Libro sits at its heart, giving publishers an accessible way in and readers someone to connect with. More than a logo element, he is a character with room to grow across every touchpoint.
We borrowed from the markups of a copyeditor’s pen, using scribbles, loops and annotations to give the brand a human, work-in-progress feel that mirrors writing and editing. That system runs through the smallest pieces, like bookmarks that say ‘I’ve kept your place’ and ‘Read onwards’, and into the product. We designed the UI for Libraro’s platform around what readers actually do there: read a manuscript chapter by chapter and leave comments for the writer, who can see every reaction.
For the London Blockchain Conference we designed Libraro’s exhibition stand as a reading room rather than a tech booth: armchairs on a round rug, a tall lamp, shelves built from coloured cubes and walls that read ‘Every Good Story Deserves a Platform’ and ‘Space to shape your story’. A screen shows the platform, so visitors meet the product in a place that feels made for books.
When Libraro opened to writer submissions, we ran its Writers’ Campaign. The Industry Insider series goes off the record with publishing figures, starting with a Q&A with literary agent Silé Edwards of Andrew Nurnberg Associates and a video interview with Richard Charkin, backed by paid social, a writers’ landing page and a one-pager setting out the new path to getting published. We also created collateral for New Paths to Publishing, a Byte the Book evening sponsored by Libraro at the Century Club in Soho in June 2025.
In less than a year, Libraro signed up multiple leading publishing houses and raised £2 million to drive the development and adoption of its platform. In November 2024 it appointed David Roche, chair of the London Book Fair and former CEO of Borders, as its chairman, alongside a £500,000 investment from Ayre Ventures.
We have stayed on as Libraro’s brand and marketing partner. Most recently we created the campaign for the Libraro Prize 2026, run in partnership with Hachette UK, which offers writers the chance to win a £50,000 book deal package and asks a question that sums up the platform: what if our champion readers got your story published? We continue to work closely with the founders to guide the strategy and growth of the business.
Outfly, a London brand, marketing and product agency, created Libraro’s brand strategy, visual identity and Libro mascot, designed the UI for its platform and its exhibition stand, and runs its marketing campaigns for writers.
Libraro joins libro, meaning book, with -aro, meaning collection, drawing on Latin and Esperanto.
Libro is Libraro’s mascot, a walking book in round glasses. He makes the platform feel approachable for readers and writers and appears across the brand, from bookmarks and posters to the Libraro Prize campaign.
In less than a year, Libraro signed up multiple leading publishing houses and raised £2 million. In November 2024 it appointed David Roche, London Book Fair chair and former Borders CEO, as chairman, and it has since launched the Libraro Prize with Hachette UK.
