Building a brand for the future of mortgage fintech
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In 2017, there was no tool for mortgage finance pros to aggregate the myriad of approval guidelines, leaving a gap between underwriting & origination teams & leaving homebuyers with a frequently fragmented experience. At the same time, there was no loan origination system with built-in marketing automation that could see a loan through every step of the process without jumping back & forth between multiple systems.
Until Take 3 Technologies came along. With LoanMaps, a cloud-based LOS system & The Rule Tool, an on-demand rule & guideline app, Take 3 is building next-gen fintech solutions on the cutting edge of mortgage finance. But they needed help fine-tuning their tech’s visual design & crafting a strategy to launch their products into the world.
In 2016, Take 3 brought in our team to build an in-house studio that would steer the future of their products & brand while offering advertising & marketing services to users of their innovative flagship products.
THE TEAM
Strategy: Tony Pietrocola | Marketing: Victory Mayorga | Art Direction/Design/Copywriting/UX: Kaitlin Olson | Development: Brad Butner, Salah Boukhris
WHAT WE DID
Brand Identity | Product Strategy | Design | Copywriting | Web & App | UX/UI | Digital | Print | Iconography | Marketing Automation | Standards & Guidelines
Innovative fintech designed to uncover a 360° view of target audiences
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Take 3 needed help fine-tuning the UX/UI of the marketing dashboard in one of their products, LoanMaps, built to empower mortgage pros to personalize marketing communications & run targeted, automated campaigns to homebuyers & B2B partners. Whether re-engaging old clients, staying top-of-mind with current ones, or welcoming new homebuyers to the fold—it puts control at their fingertips.
Through workshops with key stakeholders & teams, we dug into user needs with the mission of creating an intuitive design that empowers & puts them in charge. Crafting user personas from their insights, we forged ahead to design the dashboard to speak to users covering a broad range of tech-savviness, marketing know-how & audience types.
Accessible UX & UI for every mortgage finance pro
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Accessible User Flow
We designed the dashboard's flow to fluidly guide users to create, personalize, & deliver marketing communications & campaigns in 3 ways: targeted email, personalized direct mail, and social media—regardless of how tech-savvy the user may be.
Simple & Intuitive UI
With simplicity & intuitive design as our mantra, we applied a UI system that adds nothing unnecessary to create a look & feel that's approachable & personable for all.
Bespoke marketing content for every audience
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We crafted the targeted email & direct mail campaigns, print collateral, & social media assets available for users to personalize & launch from the dashboard.
Speaking to consumers, homeowners, & B2B partners at every step of the financing journey, they're designed to turn key audiences into homebuyers & B2B partners into allies (see the full case study here).
Crafting pioneering brands for go-to-market launch
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Take 3’s VP of Tech & President/CEO asked us to deliver a standout & ownable positioning for their two flagship products—with a tight deadline & the constraints inherent to a not-yet-launched startup.
Working closely with internal tech & strategy teams, we pulled deeper insights on their target audiences & market to create identity concepts for LoanMaps & The Rule Tool in a real-time, trial-by-fire filtering process.
The results? Product launch positioning for both products that exude authenticity, confidence, & grit—all pulled together over 2 weeks.
Unleashing a new app identity for The Rule Tool
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Tagline
The Rule Tool’s new tagline lent itself to a unique, ownable character with approachable, uncomplicated, & clean visuals & elements—showcasing the app in a way that feels both inspirational & personal. The Rule Tool is your personal underwriting expert. A guide, a coach, a friend.
Visual Identity
The visuals had a tall order: they needed to carry the boldness of a startup product while feeling relaxed & reflecting how simple the app is to use. We brought the identity to life by contrasting the structured, machine-like quality of the logo & typography with a illustrated character mark & personable color palette.
Shaping a cutting-edge identity for LoanMaps
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Logo
We created an identity to captured LoanMaps’ many moving parts. It's bold, movable, & interactive. Plus, the new mark's flexibility is complemented by the newly-designed UX/UI.
Visual Identity
We designed a system that translated LoanMap's personality into visual cues. Within the logo, dynamic shapes align next to the wordmark, echoing its ability to transform data into insight.
Bold colors build upon the UI design & palette used by The Rule Tool. Sharing the primary typeface with its sister product, but used at different weights across application, LoanMap's identity carries a balance of cohesion & differentiation.
Launching two flagship products into the world
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Along with developing the product identities, we designed & built a product marketing site & targeted email campaigns. After re-engineering the site and email strategy, we crafted better stories & visual design across all digital media for the go-to-market campaign.
UX & branding to propel fintech to 5x growth
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Our work with Take 3 set the stage for a brand & product launch that started with a bang. The new position allowed Take 3 to tell their story of innovation in compelling way. The design inspires the team, get excited by their own potential & empowers them to deliver on its purpose.
To top it off, product launches of LoanMaps & The Rule Tool were both an incredible success. LoanMaps launched via AppStore & Google Play. Scarcely traditional mortgage finance outlets.
From the start, downloads of The Rule Tool blew away expectations. The app continues grow & expand to meet the ever-changing world of mortgage guidelines.