NS&I
Where saving begins

Challenge

NS&I is the UK government’s savings bank. They’re driven by a refreshed purpose to inspire a new generation of lifetime savers as well as improve their existing savings experience. The emergence of digital banking and an ageing customer base meant NS&I needed a brand that could attract a much broader spectrum of existing and future savers to remain relevant.

Process

NS&I needed a clear, differentiating angle and strong brand presence. With a fantastic heritage and refreshed purpose, we knew NS&I had a great story to tell. Their unique position guarantees that 100% of your money is safe — something nobody else can offer. This makes them the perfect place to start saving.

We worked with NS&I to develop the brand proposition ‘Where saving begins’. The brand took shape over a series of sprints, where we worked closely with NS&I’s other creative agencies to ensure the brand worked at a promotional and sales level too.

Solution

The new brand expression – ‘A springboard for saving’ – is an energising and active representation of a brand that inspires everyone to save confidently. The ‘springboard effect’ stretches across the entire graphic system.

Role

Creative Director (brand strategy, concept, art direction, copywriting, design)

Collaborators

Fontsmith (now Monotype)

© Created at The Team

Proposition statement Where Saving Begins

The logo uses the notion of a springboard to shape its letterforms and animate in various ways.

The graphic language and refreshed photography style bring real customers and their saving stories into play.

Headline Saving starts… leaders next to school kids waiting at a bus stop

Headline Saving starts… discovering talents next to woman knitting

Headline Saving starts… pipe dreams next to a woman performing on guitar

Headline Saving starts… imaginations next to children immersed at a dinosaur exhibition

Expressive messages combine with typographic illustrations and photography in a simple and differentiated way.

Typographic illustrations working with type and cut out photography

Sample applications using typographic illustrations, expressive type and cut out photography

Typographic expression and illustration applied to canvas bags

Two notebook covers using typographic illustration and expressive type

The Premium Bonds prize checker uses seasonal animated illustrations to bring year round excitement and anticipation to the prizewinning experience.

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The brand personality enhances the transactional app’s user experience through animation and micro interactions.

Mobile screens showing financial information from NS&I's transactional app

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We developed a comprehensive social strategy to move the brand into a much more active social space.

Diagram of NS&I's social strategy framework

Sample social posts using expressive type and people photography to hero customers' savings stories

Sample social posts using expressive type to inspire people to save

Sample social posts using expressive type, cut out photography and typographic Illustration to bring more functional content to life

Sample social posts of user-generated people photography to talk about individual savings stories

Sample social posts of saving hacks to a show step by step approach to saving

“Clare brought a new sense of wonder and excitement to the rebrand of our business and infused it with heart — when all it really had was head. She added dimensions and ways of expression that went above and beyond the impossible brief I gave her. She was able to give depth, meaning, a sense of reality and emotional scale to our brand that I did not realise was possible.”

— Eugenie Biddle, Head of Brand, NS&I

Person mapping out content on post-it notes

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