Helping a fintech startup develop their accessible mission
Jordan Sigmund
Like this project
Posted May 31, 2024
Helping Navigate Financial figure out what matters to them, and who they want to serve, so they can build a brand that is both trustworthy and approachable.
Everyone deserves financial advice
Navigate Financial is an ambitious fintech startup on a mission to make financial advice accessible and affordable for everyone. In an industry often associated with complexity and exclusivity, Navigate Financial aims to revolutionize the way people approach their finances by offering subscription-based financial advisory services.
One of Navigate Financial's core ads with their new brand
The brand challenge: it doesn’t have to be so complicated
As a young startup in a competitive and trust-driven industry, Navigate Financial faced a significant branding challenge. To successfully launch and attract an audience, they needed to establish themselves as professional, trustworthy, and approachable from the outset. The abstract nature of their services and the complexity of financial concepts posed additional hurdles in clearly communicating the value and benefits of their offerings to potential clients.
The solution: building access
Through our collaborative Brand Kickstart process, we helped Navigate Financial define their unique brand essence and craft a compelling identity that would set them apart in the fintech landscape and empower them to connect with early adopters.
Navigate Financial's mission and core target audience
Building the strategy: empowering focus
Through a series of interactive workshops we created a strong bedrock for their brand strategy, starting with their mission: everyone deserves financial advice. We also identified key personality traits like being approachable, easy to understand, and empowering.
We discovered an ideal audience in professional women with families. Often underrepresented in the financial industry, they tend to value steady financial growth over risky moves and are increasingly responsible for their family's finances. By understanding their target audience's needs and aspirations, we were able to shape a strategy that would resonate deeply with them.
Three core brand beliefs
Accessibility: Financial advice should be available to everyone, regardless of their income or background.
Representation: Navigate Financial is committed to serving and empowering underrepresented groups in the financial industry.
The power of a thoughtful guide: "Navigators" provide personalized, easy-to-understand guidance to help clients achieve their financial goals.
Crafting the visual ID: a beautiful journey
Drawing inspiration from Navigate’s name and mission, we developed a cohesive visual language that revolves around the concept of embarking on a journey towards financial well-being.
We subverted the often cold and impersonal visual language of the financial industry with colors inspired by natural environments, playfully geometric typefaces, and custom topographic map patterns — reinforcing the idea that this was an expedition you should feel good about.
A portion of Navigate's brand book
A concept for Navigate's mobile website
A concept for Navigate's desktop site
Developing messaging: humble intent
Navigate needed to strike a balance between being perceived as inviting and trustworthy while still adhering to industry regulations. We crafted messaging guidelines that leveraged lowercase titling, jargon-free language, and an avoidance of symbolic characters to reach with their target with integrity while maintaining accessibility.
A portion of Navigate's onboarding deck
A few of Navigate's Instagram ads
Jordan transformed our ambitious vision into a professional brand that reflects our values, energized our team, and helped us go to market with conviction. His collaborative, strategic approach has made him a true ongoing partner in positioning us for meaningful growth and impact.
Ben Driggs, President and CEO of Navigate Financial