I’ve found my first experience with branding a really enjoyable experience and one that has brought a lot of learning. Branding was something that always had sparked my interest so I was already excited going into the process. I found that having digital banking as the basis of this brand was exciting. Admittedly, this isn’t something that I would have chosen myself. However, it is clear that this has very real and direct industry links which will undoubtedly prepare me for this when I enter into the work place. Having a 16-25 year old target demographic worked to my advantage as I was able to have open discussions and surveys with my peers about what worked and what didn’t within the brand.

I feel that a strength of mine throughout the branding process was focusing on creating human centred designs. Any features that I created within the app and the wider brand were based on the needs and opinions of real people. I think this is a crucial part of the UX design process and something I want to put in the forefront of my practice going forward. I kept the target demographic at the forefront of my mind throughout the whole process and constantly evaluated my work through this lens.

Similarly, I felt that I used my brand values to steer the direction of all aspects of design within the project. Throughout my planning, I used these as a spring board for ideas and often evaluated their importance against these. I really grasped the importance of a clear set of values through creating this way. At the very least, it can be used as a tool to ensure you are presenting a cohesive brand without contradicting elements. However, I feel that is more than just limited to that. It’s something that brings a certain energy to your brand and in many ways lifts it off the screen. It feeds into the mission statement and it creates purpose. Purpose is something I think I need to feel when I’m designing. I think this is what attracts me to this path. I feel that through my design I can bring about change to peoples lives, wether that’s as simple as allowing them to complete a task easier, or on a larger scale such as helping them save to buy a house like in this hypothetical case. I think that’s what I use to indicate good design. Good design creates good.

From speaking to my peers both on and outside of my course, people say that they wish this was an app they can use. I think that’s a good indication that I’ve created both a unique app but in a wider sense, a brand that people can trust and invested in. I don’t feel as though I’m quite satisfied with bringing this brand to a close at this point. Over the summer, I want to develop this further and see to what extent I can push this concept and bring it to life in a sense through coding the landing page and further conceptualisation of the app.