In-house brand design for Anchor
I joined Anchor in early 2023, about three months after they came out of stealth. The company is a banking-as-a-service platform helping African businesses build, embed, and launch compliant financial products. At the time, they had a handful of pilot clients, a small team, and were preparing to raise their seed round.
Working in-house at a startup didn’t allow for the privileges of following the typical design process and writing about it is even harder. I wanted this case study to show the rugged nature of the work that goes on there.
Day 1
When I arrived, Anchor had the basics: a logo, some colors in use, a couple of typefaces scattered across different touchpoints. My initial thought was to create a “system” that could serve as the foundation for the immediate work I needed to do—social media designs and pitch decks, but there wasn’t any time for that. On my very first day, I had to create designs that would go out ASAP and that was how my days went for the first few months; the work was whatever needed to get done.
Systemising(?)
While I designed what needed to be, I also knew that I needed a system to work with. I started with an audit. I cataloged every design asset and component touching the brand—website elements, social templates, presentation slides, everything. Then I sorted them into three categories: what could stay, what needed to go, and what gaps existed.
The gaps were significant. We had visual components but no visual system. We had colors but no rationale for when to use which one. We had typefaces but no hierarchy. Most critically, we had no illustration style—and for a B2B SaaS company, illustrations are how you explain complex technical concepts without putting people to sleep.
To tackle the illustration bit, I tried out a few illustration styles and visual design assets to see what would stick and what wouldn’t. I eventually settled on flat and isometric illustration styles that featured the brand’s blues—the main primary colour at that time.
The evolution
A few months in, as Anchor grew from 5 to 15 people and from 3 pilot clients to 20+ paying customers, the cracks appeared. The main issue was visual disharmony across touchpoints. The brand worked in pieces but didn't work as a whole. For a company about to pitch investors for millions of dollars, this wasn't just an aesthetic problem—it was a strategic one.
We needed a rebrand. Not a complete tear-down, but a significant tightening and expansion. I framed it around three objectives:
Position Anchor as a safe, trustworthy brand
Banking infrastructure isn't sexy, but it needs to feel secure. The visual language needed to signal stability without feeling corporate and soulless.
Harmonize brand look and feel across all touchpoints
One cohesive system that worked from pitch deck to social post to product interface.
Create a platform for extension
Build a system flexible enough to grow as the company grew, not something we'd outgrow in six months.
In-house brand design for Anchor
I joined Anchor in early 2023, about three months after they came out of stealth. The company is a banking-as-a-service platform helping African businesses build, embed, and launch compliant financial products. At the time, they had a handful of pilot clients, a small team, and were preparing to raise their seed round.
Working in-house at a startup didn’t allow for the privileges of following the typical design process and writing about it is even harder. I wanted this case study to show the rugged nature of the work that goes on there.
Day 1
When I arrived, Anchor had the basics: a logo, some colors in use, a couple of typefaces scattered across different touchpoints. My initial thought was to create a “system” that could serve as the foundation for the immediate work I needed to do—social media designs and pitch decks, but there wasn’t any time for that. On my very first day, I had to create designs that would go out ASAP and that was how my days went for the first few months; the work was whatever needed to get done.
Systemising(?)
While I designed what needed to be, I also knew that I needed a system to work with. I started with an audit. I cataloged every design asset and component touching the brand—website elements, social templates, presentation slides, everything. Then I sorted them into three categories: what could stay, what needed to go, and what gaps existed.
The gaps were significant. We had visual components but no visual system. We had colors but no rationale for when to use which one. We had typefaces but no hierarchy. Most critically, we had no illustration style—and for a B2B SaaS company, illustrations are how you explain complex technical concepts without putting people to sleep.
To tackle the illustration bit, I tried out a few illustration styles and visual design assets to see what would stick and what wouldn’t. I eventually settled on flat and isometric illustration styles that featured the brand’s blues—the main primary colour at that time.
The evolution
A few months in, as Anchor grew from 5 to 15 people and from 3 pilot clients to 20+ paying customers, the cracks appeared. The main issue was visual disharmony across touchpoints. The brand worked in pieces but didn't work as a whole. For a company about to pitch investors for millions of dollars, this wasn't just an aesthetic problem—it was a strategic one.
We needed a rebrand. Not a complete tear-down, but a significant tightening and expansion. I framed it around three objectives:
Position Anchor as a safe, trustworthy brand
Banking infrastructure isn't sexy, but it needs to feel secure. The visual language needed to signal stability without feeling corporate and soulless.
Harmonize brand look and feel across all touchpoints
One cohesive system that worked from pitch deck to social post to product interface.
Create a platform for extension
Build a system flexible enough to grow as the company grew, not something we'd outgrow in six months.
In-house brand design for Anchor
I joined Anchor in early 2023, about three months after they came out of stealth. The company is a banking-as-a-service platform helping African businesses build, embed, and launch compliant financial products. At the time, they had a handful of pilot clients, a small team, and were preparing to raise their seed round.
Working in-house at a startup didn’t allow for the privileges of following the typical design process and writing about it is even harder. I wanted this case study to show the rugged nature of the work that goes on there.
Day 1
When I arrived, Anchor had the basics: a logo, some colors in use, a couple of typefaces scattered across different touchpoints. My initial thought was to create a “system” that could serve as the foundation for the immediate work I needed to do—social media designs and pitch decks, but there wasn’t any time for that. On my very first day, I had to create designs that would go out ASAP and that was how my days went for the first few months; the work was whatever needed to get done.
Systemising(?)
While I designed what needed to be, I also knew that I needed a system to work with. I started with an audit. I cataloged every design asset and component touching the brand—website elements, social templates, presentation slides, everything. Then I sorted them into three categories: what could stay, what needed to go, and what gaps existed.
The gaps were significant. We had visual components but no visual system. We had colors but no rationale for when to use which one. We had typefaces but no hierarchy. Most critically, we had no illustration style—and for a B2B SaaS company, illustrations are how you explain complex technical concepts without putting people to sleep.
To tackle the illustration bit, I tried out a few illustration styles and visual design assets to see what would stick and what wouldn’t. I eventually settled on flat and isometric illustration styles that featured the brand’s blues—the main primary colour at that time.
The evolution
A few months in, as Anchor grew from 5 to 15 people and from 3 pilot clients to 20+ paying customers, the cracks appeared. The main issue was visual disharmony across touchpoints. The brand worked in pieces but didn't work as a whole. For a company about to pitch investors for millions of dollars, this wasn't just an aesthetic problem—it was a strategic one.
We needed a rebrand. Not a complete tear-down, but a significant tightening and expansion. I framed it around three objectives:
Position Anchor as a safe, trustworthy brand
Banking infrastructure isn't sexy, but it needs to feel secure. The visual language needed to signal stability without feeling corporate and soulless.
Harmonize brand look and feel across all touchpoints
One cohesive system that worked from pitch deck to social post to product interface.
Create a platform for extension
Build a system flexible enough to grow as the company grew, not something we'd outgrow in six months.
The rebrand featured a slight wordmark adjustment, color and type system and an illustration system to cater to a variety of digital and print needs
The rebrand featured a slight wordmark adjustment, color and type system and an illustration system to cater to a variety of digital and print needs
The rebrand featured a slight wordmark adjustment, color and type system and an illustration system to cater to a variety of digital and print needs
SELECTED PROJECTS
THE COMPASS
The Compass was Anchor’s monthly newsletter that helped distill Fintech concepts and trends into information that non-players and players alike could understand.
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SELECTED PROJECTS
THE COMPASS
The Compass was Anchor’s monthly newsletter that helped distill Fintech concepts and trends into information that non-players and players alike could understand.
NEXT
SELECTED PROJECTS
THE COMPASS
The Compass was Anchor’s monthly newsletter that helped distill Fintech concepts and trends into information that non-players and players alike could understand.
NEXT
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ibrahimotukoya100@gmail.com