Branding a SAF startup unlike any other: introducing Sora Fuel

A sizzle reel showing multiple elements of the new Sora Fuel Brand including logo and website.

Introducing Sora Fuel, a new company with a wholly unique approach to creating sustainable aviation fuel. Just add air, water, and renewable energy.

The race for economical sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) sits at the heart of an incredibly active and evolving industry. With dozens of companies and technologies emerging, it’s hard for investors to know which is the one that will truly (ahem) take off. Enter Sora Fuel; a company with a uniquely holistic approach without any of the drawbacks inherent in other paths to SAF.

We partnered with the Sora Fuel team to create a pitch deck, brand, and website that would quickly and clearly communicate that they’re not just another SAF startup.

Two deck slides featuring pink and purple clouds, and a white line drawing of an airplane superimposed on top. The slides feature messaging about how aircraft account for 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions, and how all of the current paths to SAF come with constraints.
Interim pitch deck cover
Two deck slides featuring pink and purple clouds, and a white line drawing of an airplane superimposed on top. The slides feature messaging about how aircraft account for 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions, and how all of the current paths to SAF come with constraints.
Interim pitch deck art direction

The right tool at the right time


As a strategic brand partner for Sora Fuel, our collaboration began with a revamp of their pitch deck, which helped the company raise $6M in seed round funding.

The deck presented Sora in a vastly different light than the competition, pitching their rational, data-driven approach against an ethereal backdrop that illuminated their progressive vision for the future. The combination was a success. And thanks to the raise, Sora was able to shift focus to building out their team, technology, and brand.

On the left is the original Sora fuel logo, using a typeface reminiscent of the NASA logo in all caps, and a very rounded stylized wing to the left of the word mark. The brand colors were orange and black. On the right is the new logo, featuring a much lighter lowercase typeface and a simplified bird in flight to the right of the word mark. The new brand colors are a light teal and black.
The Sora logo, before and after
Close ups of the lower case letter r and the sora bird logo showing that they are made up of the same shapes.
New logo construction

A brand ready for takeoff

There are many paths to SAF, but they all have drawbacks that make them too expensive, complicated, or harmful to the environment to be truly scalable. Sora Fuel creates SAF from just air, water, and renewable energy. It’s carbon-negative, affordable, and its feedstock is unlimited.

The original logo and brand palette spoke more to industrial fuel than the atmosphere around us, so we crafted a new wordmark to express the proper tone.

The name “Sora” alludes to flight. A sora is a small bird. Accordingly, we crafted an abstract bird to serve as their mark, soaring skyward to the right in the direction of progress and success. Paired with the full name, Sora Fuel, the logo telegraphs their position as a progressive aviation fuel innovator.


“Working with the fantastic firm One Design, we’ve developed a complete brand and visual identity, standing up a website that articulates our vision, passion and our differentiation within the crowded SAF space.”


Gareth Ross
CEO Sora Fuel


The new Sora Fuel logo in white on top of light pink clouds with blue sky peeking through.
A key frame from the website featuring light horizontal lines between jumbo sized key takeaways. A screen shot of the website on a mobile phone featuring the headline “Air travel is non-negotiable” followed by a passionate statement from Sora about why they exist.
Website design and writing
A stylized diagram featuring blueprint style illustrations with thin line work that explains how Sora converts air into Sustainable Aviation Fuel.
Process and technology diagram

Visionary yet grounded

While most SAF companies over-index on photography of planes, the Sora design system paints a hopeful picture of the future focusing on warm, clean skies and a light, airy graphic aesthetic.

Technical line work, functional annotation, exposed grid structures, and engineering schematics express Sora’s rational, thoughtful rigor. A crisp palette of teal, white, and black merges with an honest, person-to-person editorial voice to embody the passion and energy of the Sora founders and team.

A zip up jacket featuring the Sora Fuel logo with white type and a teal bird, and a minimal business card that’s black on one side and teal on the other.
The brand expression in its simplest form on swag and business cards
A presentation slide using the new Sora design system featuring large type, a lot of white space, the light pink cloud photograph and a white blueprint of an airplane.
Pitch deck pages balance optimism and rigor

Immediate impact

Sora Fuel has already built impressive momentum, winning significant industry recognition for their efforts to transform the industry and reduce the carbon footprint of air travel.

With their new pitch, identity program, and website in place less than six months after founding, the Sora team can focus on scaling their team and building out their technology.


“We want to thank the team at One Design for the outstanding partnership in reworking our brand. [They’re] truly a group of like-minded, talented individuals trying to change the world. We would recommend them to anyone.”


Gareth Ross
CEO Sora Fuel

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One Design Company is a research-driven design and development studio. For over a decade, we’ve explored the intersection of experience and technology—where powerful brands come to life. Want to learn more? Let’s chat.

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