T8 Wealth – 2021
Crafting the Brand Promise of Borderless Finance
My Role
Design Lead
Timeline
4 months
Team
Project Managers
Brand Designers
Brand Strategist
Web Developers
Responsibilities
Visual Design
UI Design
Creative Direction
Responsibilities
Visual Design
UI Design
Creative Direction
Overview
T8, a fintech startup, sought to solidify its brand identity and market positioning amidst a rapidly evolving industry. As the lead designer, my responsibility was to redefine T8’s brand and effectively communicate its value proposition to the target audience.
The existing brand lacked clarity and a strong visual presence, hindering its ability to resonate with its audience. To address this, we conducted collaborative workshops with the T8 team. These workshops facilitated alignment on the overall strategy, voice, and tone of the brand’s visual expression, as well as the establishment of core values and direction.
We reimagined the T8 brand to center on customer empowerment and freedom of choice. This was achieved by developing a sophisticated yet accessible design tone applied across various touchpoints. These efforts were further supported by a refined logotype, typography, and guidelines for brand expressions.
High-level Goals
01
Define the brand purpose, mission, and values.
02
Develop a brand expression to communicate the brand's promises and services to the target audience.
01
Discover & Define
Defining the Brand Foundations
We utilized collaborative workshops to establish a unified strategy and a cohesive voice and tone for the visual language, ensuring stakeholders’ needs were clearly articulated. Through collaborative client workshops, we defined the core values and strategic direction for the brand.
Brand Foundations
T8’s mission is to break down barriers in private banking and drive financial inclusivity, believing that everyone should have access to financial services without borders. This approach challenges the traditional banking model and promotes a new financial movement.
Value Proposition
T8 enables wealth preservation through geographical diversification.
Proof Points
T8’s platform supports borderless financial movement, allowing users to move funds offshore for risk diversification and meaningful investment. T8 is value-driven, supporting customers’ family and overseas spending needs. T8 enables a global lifestyle and fosters a sense of community, with plans to offer financial guidance and education in the future.
Brand Hygiene
T8’s brand is built on trust, safety, convenience, simplicity, ease of use, and customer value.
02
Goal Setting
Design Goals
03
Design
Exploration
Misunderstandings can arise even with the best intentions. We often make assumptions and communicate with words and images that, while the same, hold different meanings for each of us.
To ensure clear communication and alignment with our client, we implemented a visual communication process. This involved developing mood gauges and mood boards, incorporating images, text, and diverse expressions to effectively understand and illustrate the client’s preferences and inclinations, thus refining our direction and uncovering any underlying assumptions.
An appropriate visual style was discovered through our creative exercises, indicating a balance between a lifestyle companion and an exclusive club. This insight informed our visual design process, where we iteratively tested and refined the aesthetic.
Visual Design
The T8 brand logo is designed to convey the idea of the company’s service acting as a conduit, enabling and empowering customers to access and democratize financial services. The typography is supportive and enhances the proposition, reflecting a fluid, luxurious, and delicate nature. Earthy colors express a carefree lifestyle achieved naturally. These design choices collectively contribute to a bright, simple, and uplifting brand expression.
Typography in Perfect Harmony
FF Holmen and Axiforma, two typefaces with distinct personalities, unite to create a harmonious visual experience. Their Humanistic features evoke a sense of fluidity, luxury, and approachability, inviting users to engage with the brand on a deeper level.
Earthy Color Palette
A harmonious blend of earthy tones and uplifting hues, reflecting a carefree lifestyle achieved naturally.
04
Outcomes
05
Learnings
Business Strategy is Vital for Success
It has to be noted, they were later renamed to Ambr Payments and shifted its focus to simplifying international payments and remittances for businesses.
The project taught me that even strong branding efforts can’t compensate for a misaligned business strategy. While we were proud of the branding work, the company’s shift in focus highlighted the importance of aligning brand strategy with core business objectives.
Importance of Research and Testing
The project emphasized the importance of basing design decisions on research and testing. While adhering to a process and meeting client needs is essential, it is equally crucial to ensure that the work has a genuine purpose and solves a real problem. Without proper testing and a foundation to support decisions, the outcome may appear successful but lack meaningful impact. This experience highlighted a need for designers to advocate for research and user-centered approaches, even when faced with tight deadlines or limited resources.
Establish trust, convenience, simplicity, and customer value as key brand foundations.
Reflect T8’s mission of democratizing private banking and promoting financial inclusion.
Develop a sophisticated yet approachable design tone across multiple touchpoints.
To guide the visual design direction, we categorized collected images, text, and expressions based on their associated perceived ideas. This process allowed us to better understand the client's inclination and expectations for the final visual expression.
The T8 logo symbolizes the company’s mission to break down barriers and act as the conduit to link customers to financial services
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