Brief
Coconut was a new to market bank account for freelancers. Originally called Monizo, a certain challenger bank then decided to change their name, meaning Monizo had to go. This coincidentally coincided with a push into the Product Design of their offering, giving the perfect opportunity to start from scratch with what the brand stood for and what it looked and talked like.
Solution
Working closely alongside the co-founders, we chose the name Coconut in homage to the idyllic idea of life that freelancers have when they first set up. Coconut might not be able to take you to white sandy beaches lined with Coconut trees itself, but it will take the stress of tax away so you can use your time focussing on getting there.
The brand would be trustworthy and dependable, with clear and concise messaging to cut through the jargon and make an unwanted part of self-employed life seem easy. The tone of voice was like a dependable friend who just so happens to be an accountant.
I created a wordmark that was bold and simple, flourished with only a full stop to exert its authority. The typeface, Arco Perpetuo, is a modern take on the classic typeface, Helvetica Neue. The deep brown was inspired by the husk of a coconut, and the sea green reminiscent of crystal clear waters.
The wordmark is primarily for applications outside of the app, including the logged-out state. As an app, it also needs an icon, represented by an abstract coconut.
From here I built out the brand, looking at the design of the Coconut card, colours, typography for use in marketing communications and also internal documents, as well as top-line thoughts on the app before we got stuck into the Product Design.
Product Styleguide
The product is the main touchpoint of the brand. Here the tone of voice, typography, colours and illustrations would combine into the brand vision.
Working closely with the co-founders, I set out the initial user experience of the app and began to define some key screens as inspiration for when the product would then develop.
Coconut was App of the Day
CUSTOMER REVIEWS
Always cool to wake up to big app updates… In @getcoconut‘s case, they have, overnight, replaced my bank, my bookkeeping software, and turned admin into something quick and easy, rather than a monthly slog. Superb work with a real attention to detail 🙌
Really like this app so far and I’m really excited about its progress and where it’s going to go. As a new sole trader, finance is incredibly daunting and Coconut is taking away some of the complexity and making things clear for me.
I have been using this banking app for the past few months. The lovely people at Coconut have got banking and accounting all wrapped up… Being able to send invoices from the app deletes the necessity to use other software. Coconut thank you, thank you, thank you. I love it 🙂
