Bank made simple

Sbanken, formerly known as Skandiabanken, is the Norwegian bank that has had the most satisfied customers since 2002. Sbanken is also the first bank that emerged as a purely digital bank, bold and brave from the very beginning.

Category→
Technology

Work→
Visual identity, type design, naming, digital design, UX design, design strategy

Awards→
Visuelt, European Design Awards, DOGA Award for Design Excellence

Client→
Sbanken

Challenge

The primary motivation for the rebranding and name change was the separation from Skandia, which means that Sbanken now has become an independent Norwegian bank, listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. For the bank and the project, it was important not to change the basic concept as a customer-focused digital bank and to continue still to challenge the industry through openness, simplicity and fee-free services.

Process sketches and playing with animation experiments.

Solution

Sbanken's visual identity revolves around your sphere, with the main focus on you, your family, your friends and the whole society. It is about connecting and creating a banking experience that is simple, rebellious and open.

For us, it was essential to continue the core concept and emerge as the same bank, while at the same time we needed to modernise our visual identity. Through simplification and visual recognition, the new name continues the bank's existing brand associations. At the same time, the new visual expression further underlines the openness and simplicity and stands out in a uniform industry.

— Johnny Anderson, Head of Concept Development @Sbanken

The circle is representing the fact that Sbanken is there for you, regardless of where you are today, or where you are headed tomorrow. It´s is a bank that gives you the freedom to choose, with the knowledge that the bank will work for you, towards finding the best solutions.

Through simplification and visual recognition, the new name continues the bank's existing brand associations. At the same time, the new visual expression further underlines the openness and simplicity and stands out in a uniform industry

Typography is an essential element in identity. Typography conveys knowledge and is the most crucial instrument for communicating clearly and directly.

The main font is a modified version of Maison Neue - Book and Demi, which is used on all written text, except on smaller font sizes as body text. When using the fonts correctly, the information will appear clear and tidy to the readers.

Brand photos by Hinda Fahre

Result

As a result, Sbanken has received a new name and a new visual identity that maintain a strong core concept, which focuses on the bank's central values of being simple, rebellious and open.