Building a trusted brand for first-time banking users

The project focused on developing a brand identity for an online-only banking service aimed at young adults and older teenagers, particularly those with little or no prior experience using a bank account. Core brand values such as security, safety, and efficiency were established to build trust and appeal to this audience. Based on these values, the design process involved creating sketches and exploring typography and colour to produce a distinctive logomark, wordmark, and colour palette that reflect the brand’s reassuring and modern character.

The smartphone app prototype was developed using key brand elements to ensure visual consistency across various contexts and screen sizes. Featuring a minimalist design, the app aligns with the logo and wordmarks while enhancing usability and accessibility by focusing on essential features only. A style guide was also created to support consistent design implementation. The primary colours used are black and white, reflecting the core branding, with green and red as secondary colours to visually indicate changes in balance, enabling users to quickly interpret key information.

The project met its goals of being an efficient and easily usable app for young users, due to its simplistic, stripped down design. The elements of the brand also convey its values well, as they are simple but striking, inspiring trust and a view of stability, making the user feel that their money is safe