BRIEF
Develop A name and BRAND CONCEPT FOR AN ONLINE PERSONAL LOANS start up OFFERING LOW INTEREST LOANS to GEN Z customers, THAT is TRUSTWORTHY AND relatable. Design a website homepage to demonstrate how the brand would translate into this medium, using copy supplied by the client.
APPROACH
Research showed that Gen Z are using credit cards more now than ever before and carry the largest average balance across generations (Millennial, Gen X, Boomers etc). Many are unable to pay off their balance in full every month, accruing compound interest month after month.
This start up is offering low interest, fixed rate loans for the duration of the loan period. By choosing to take out a personal loan to pay for things like holidays or a new laptop, customers will pay significantly less interest than if they made a purchase on a credit card to pay off incrementally, while having assurance that their total repayment amount and monthly repayment amount won’t change.
The concept is inspired by the company’s low interest rates equating to small amounts of interest being paid, relative to loan value.
EXECUTION: BRAND
Logo font (Canberra Regular) was selected because it’s friendly and fun while also being a serif font which helps visually to convey the idea of trustworthiness without being stuffy about it - other financial SERVICES AND LOAN PROVIDERS were very corporate with clinical looking websites, devoid of personality.
A web safe font was required for body copy legibility and accessibility (Lato) so I chose a more characterful header font with angular quirks on specific letters to give it a bit of personality (Kritik).
The ‘i’ of the SM%INTEREST logo is a percentage symbol and was ideal to deconstruct for graphic elements, into angled lines and circles.
The colour palette was inspired by the colour most widely associated with the colour of money - green - the most common colour used on banknotes. Various tones of green are used to allow for contrast and includes a bright, accent, neon green, selected to appeal to a Gen Z audience.
to further reinforce the idea of trustworthiness and reliability, imagery of dogs have been used as they symbolise loyalty, protection and guidance.
EXECUTION: DESIGN
There was quite a lot of copy and many different sections to consider at the outset. Containers with 1 angled side are a key feature, making reference to the angled lines of graphic elements and creating spaces for section headings to sit alongside corresponding body copy. Contrasting colours and headline font facilitate hierarchy. Circle outlines are used for signposting and numbering, while titled, solid circles are clickable components.
Buttons are pill shaped (a shape synonymous with Gen Z’s digital grammar) and uniform in colour to indicate that an action can be taken. The colour choice of neon green for these is intentional so that they are highlighted, making it easy to locate key information at a glance.
The deconstructed percentage sign is used in sections of the design where content breaks away from the header + corresponding body copy model, sitting alongside header containers.
