10.05.2012

The Visual Language of Banking.

Presented at Next Bank Asia 2012.

A quick reality check.

We opened a studio in Singapore

and needed a bank account …

… so naturally we went to the

world’s global bank first.

“The account opening fee will

be $1,000 please.”

“F*** that.”

The world’s local bank.*

* With the exception of Singapore.

Next door they’re here for good.

Sounds promising.

“Could you send your application

to Singapore yourself please.

I’m very busy you know!”

“WTF?”

“DHL is pretty good.

If we send documents

internally they often

get lost.”

“Well can you fax it?!?!”

“Actually my fax is broken”

“Supervisor!”

Where for good?

Banks are making visual

promises they can’t live

up to.

Let’s take a look at the

top 100 and see what

patterns emerge.

The 9 visual promises

of banks.

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

1 2

4 5 6

7 8 9

1 2

5 6

7 8 9

1 2

5 6

7 8 9

1 2

5 6

7 8 9

1 2

5 6

7 8 9

1 2

5 6

7 8 9

1 2

5 6

7 8 9

There are two

problems with these

visual promises.

First, nobody really believes

them any more.

Second, they don’t reflect what

today’s banks need to be about.

Today’s banks need to be:

1. Personal

2. Motivating

3. Human

Today’s banks need to be:

1. Personal

2. Motivating

3. Human

Most of today’s banks

are over-branded.

So what if we got the

identity out of the way?

Today’s banks:

1. Personal:

Get the identity out of the way

Today’s banks need to be:

1. Personal

2. Motivating

3. Human

Today’s banks:

1. Personal:

Get the identity out of the way

2. Motivating:

Give bite-sized offers

their own identity

Today’s banks need to be:

1. Personal

2. Motivating

3. Human

Singapore Airlines

Comms

Comms Web

Comms Web Mobile

So why haven’t banks

created any icons of

service?

Banks of the future:

1. Personal:

Get the identity out of the way

2. Motivating:

Give bite-sized offers

their own identity

3. Human:

Give me princess Leia

www.shiftpartners.com

HONG KONG

Shift.

3&3A Upper Station Street

Sheung Wan

Hong Kong

BEIJING

Shift.

中国

北京市朝阳区东大桥SOHO尚都北塔

A座1205, 100020

SINGAPORE

Shift.

73A Duxton Road

Singapore

089532

Contact:

Toby Johnston

Partner

+65 8342 7142

toby@shiftpartners.com

Contact:

Zoran Svetlicic

Partner

+852 9859 6726

zoran@shiftpartners.com

Contact:

Yvonne Yu

Partner

+86 137 0116 9250

yvonne@shiftpartners.com