Borrowell is a customer facing platform that provides free credit scores, credit education, credit building products and financial product recommendations. Their mission is to make financial prosperity possible for everyone; making them feel in control and optimistic about their financial future.
Friendly
Trustworthy
Approachable
Accessible
My role: Brand & identity design Design systems Illustration Art direction
Teams I worked with: Design, Marketing, Email Engagement
Borrowell needed a cohesive, scalable brand identity to increase trust and establish a strong and memorable presence within the finance and fintech industries.
Adults in Canada, specifically individuals driven to build their credit for financial goals, as well as those actively seeking financial products like loans or mortgages.
Acquisition grew by
1.7M
members
over 5 years
Collaborating with the Design team, I played a key role in developing colour palettes, icon, illustration and character libraries to align with Borrowell's brand qualities of friendly, trustworthy, approachable and accessible. Additionally, I took the lead in establishing a design system specifically for Borrowell's marketing website.
Provided art direction to a junior designer, steering the expansion of the color palette for a cohesive visual identity. Added values and adjusted some tones to meet accessibility standards for text color contrast.
Maintained the use of purples and blues as Borrowell's primary colors. These instill a sense of wealth, calm and stability, which aligns with the company mission.
This fosters brand recognition, but also distinguishes Borrowell from the conventional imagery associated with the Big Five Banks.
A friendly approach to finances was achieved through icons and illustrations, with a focus on representing character diversity. It facilitated the communication of complex concepts. To captivate and engage the audience, illustrations and animated gifs are used across marketing channels and in app screens.
Following Borrowell's initial website design by an agency, I took charge of meticulously documenting type styles and creating reusable components in Figma. I ensured every detail was finely tuned, incorporating essential states to meet accessibility standards. These crafted styles seamlessly extended to our email designs, showcasing a commitment to precision and consistency in our brand presentation.
UI design system components for Borrowell's marketing website, landing pages and emails.
I collaborated cross-functionally with the Design, Product, Marketing and Email Engagement teams to establish a consistent brand experience across touchpoints for the Borrowell Credit Builder product marketing.
Social media
Emails
App Store listing
Paid ads
Landing page
Direct mail
How can I optimize processes for both teams and myself to maximize efficiency?
How can I ensure that the teams I assist adhere to brand standards?
How can I streamline and automate repetitive tasks to alleviate my workload, enabling me to focus on more impactful responsibilities?
Presentation deck: Reduced number of ad hoc requests. Established cohesive look of decks, increasing speed of creation company-wide.
Social media: Increased the speed the Marketing team could ship organic social posts.
Ads: Enabled the Marketing team to test copy with less design support.
Leveraging graphics and animations, I played a pivotal role in simplifying complex financial concepts, thereby contributing significantly to the substantial growth of user acquisition. The membership base skyrocketed from approximately 700k to over 2.5 million over the span of 5 years. This approach not only enhanced user understanding, but also played a crucial role in establishing the brand as a trusted and accessible resource in the financial industry, fostering sustained engagement and growth.
Acquisition grew by
1.7M
members
Establishing a framework for projects made it quicker to begin and ensured alignment with the Borrowell brand.
Working for a startup involves a balance of quick deliverables for testing and learning and establishing guidelines for efficiency.
Style guides are a starting point for branding, but they will evolve with team and company needs.
Continuously evaluate processes for improvements. Initial efforts may be required, but the long-term time and cost savings make the upfront investment invaluable.
© 2024 Amanda Wondergem