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Igor Dinuzzi

06 · Savvi Financial · Rebrand

Making finance feel simpler

A fintech identity that reads as intelligent and trustworthy without turning cold.

Client
Savvi Financial
Role
Freelance Creative Director and Graphic Designer
Year
2023
  • Brand identity
  • Fintech
  • Creative direction
  • Visual language
  • Editorial systems
  • Typography
  • Illustration
  • Digital experiences
The Savvi Financial logotype in white over a photograph of a father carrying a small child along a beach at dusk, with the line simply smart advice beneath it.
The strategic shift in one frame: people, not charts.

Overview

Intelligent and trustworthy, without the chill

Savvi Financial needed an identity that could carry authority in a sector built on caution, without inheriting the coldness that usually comes with it.

As freelance creative director and graphic designer I led the full rebrand: the logotype, the typography, the icon system, the co-branding rules and the digital assets.

Direction

Five decisions that set the tone

  1. An italic lowercase logotype

    Movement, warmth and approachability in one move, which a capitalised upright wordmark would have given up on immediately.

  2. Light and dark blue together

    The light blue carries the optimism, the dark blue carries the authority. Neither works alone in this category.

  3. IBM Plex Serif

    A serif brings editorial credibility and a slower rhythm, which is the opposite of what most fintech reaches for and exactly the point.

  4. Icons for the whole of financial life

    A system covering everything from healthcare and investments through to retirement, so no part of the offer looks improvised.

  5. People, not charts

    The strongest shift in the project. Away from generic graphs and corporate portraits, towards the people financial planning is actually for.

Process

How it got there

  1. 01

    Stakeholder interviews

    Internal teams, clients and end users, to understand the real needs and expectations rather than the stated ones.

  2. 02

    Market research

    An audit of fintech branding and direct competitors, looking for where differentiation would actually pay.

  3. 03

    Identity development

    Building a visual language around the balance Savvi needed: technical enough to trust, human enough to approach.

  4. 04

    Web and digital assets

    A redesigned site and supporting assets, using custom icons and infographics to make complex financial ideas legible.

  5. 05

    Iteration and testing

    Refinement through close collaboration with the team and feedback loops, to keep the work aligned with the brand intent.

  6. 06

    Implementation

    Rolling the identity out across every platform so the system arrived as one thing rather than in pieces.

Deliverables

The system, part by part

Deliverable 01

Logotype and application

The lockup working across white, light blue, dark blue and photography, which is the real test of whether a wordmark holds.

The Savvi Financial logotype shown four ways: dark on white, white on light blue, light blue and white on dark blue, and white over a beach photograph.
Four grounds, one lockup, no redrawing.

Deliverable 02

Co-branding

Partner lockups with the spacing specified rather than described, so the rule survives being handed to someone else.

Savvi Financial locked up with the Chase logo on dark blue, shown above a construction diagram using the letter s as the measuring unit for safe space, with a note explaining that logos align to a fixed reference point and Savvi always leads.
The letter s as the measuring unit, and Savvi always leading.

Deliverable 03

Colour

A primary pair doing the heavy lifting, with a green and a magenta held back for moments that need the lift.

The Savvi colour palette: light blue 00adef and dark blue 0059993 as the primary pair, green 46b754 and magenta c6307f as complementary, each with RGB and CMYK values and a supporting photograph.
Primary and complementary, specified in RGB, CMYK and hex.

Deliverable 04

Typography

IBM Plex Serif as the voice. A serif in fintech is a deliberate break from the category, and it is what gives the communications their editorial weight.

The IBM Plex Serif specimen for Savvi, showing the full upper and lowercase alphabet, numerals and a paragraph of body copy, beside a black and white photograph of a woman laughing.
IBM Plex Serif, set against the photography it has to share a page with.

Deliverable 05

Imagery direction

The art direction that carries the whole positioning. Warm light, real moments, and not a single stock boardroom.

Eight photographs setting the Savvi imagery direction: a sunset over water, a father and daughter laughing, couples, a family running through a doorway, hands at a laptop, and parents with children in warm evening light.
Eight frames that define the brief better than a paragraph would.

Deliverable 06

Shapes and geometry

The circle as the brand's structural device, cropping photography and holding space, so layouts stay recognisable even with the logo removed.

A Savvi layout example using the brand geometry: photographs cropped into large circles anchored to opposite corners, with smaller open circles in green and magenta floating between them.
The circle doing structural work, not decorative work.

Deliverable 07

Iconography

A system drawn to a construction rule first, then extended across the full spread of financial life, from a first pay cheque to retirement.

The Savvi icon construction rules, showing a circle with 2px inside and outside stroke widths annotated in magenta, then the same icon as a line drawing, as a filled dark blue version, and as a photographic crop.
Construction first: stroke widths, then every variant from it.
Sixteen Savvi icons in blue circles, covering a briefcase, cash, saving coins, a rising chart, a calculator, a money bag, a phone, a card, healthcare, education, insurance, tax forms, delivery, billing, property and goals.
Sixteen domains, one drawing style.

Impact

Why it mattered

Financial trust starts before someone opens the product. The rebrand positioned Savvi as emotionally approachable without sacrificing intelligence or credibility.
Savvi Financial

Credits

Creative direction
Igor Dinuzzi
Art direction and graphic design
Igor Dinuzzi
Copywriting
Savvi Financial
Client
Savvi Financial