An Evolved Identity for Japan's Fintech Leader
An evolved identity for Japan's leading FinTech company creates a supportive brand for both consumers and financial institutions into the future.
Meet Moneytree
In 2020, Moneytree, a leading Japanese FinTech company, embarked on a comprehensive rebranding initiative to align its identity with its evolved business model. Originally recognized for its award-winning personal finance app with a consumer-friendly image, Moneytree expanded its offerings to include B2B services and a robust financial data platform. The rebranding aimed to resonate with both consumers and financial institutions, reflecting the company's updated core values.
What we did
The rebranding project gave Moneytree a fresh new identity that reflected its expanded range of services. A key part of this transformation was the new logo, designed to symbolize connection and growth while staying true to the company’s core values. The website also underwent a major overhaul, bringing together multiple markets under a unified and cohesive visual identity. To ensure consistency across all touchpoints, comprehensive brand guidelines were developed, covering everything from color schemes to typography and iconography. To introduce the new brand to the world, a variety of advertising materials and promotional content were produced, helping Moneytree make a bold and confident debut with its refreshed look.
Chapters
Evolving the company's identity
Established in 2012, the company had grown into one of Japan’s leading fintech firms. What began as a consumer-facing finance management app had expanded to include services for businesses and banks. After eight years, the brand was ready for its next evolution. The challenge was to create a new identity that reflected the company’s future vision while staying true to the brand customers had come to recognize and love.
To start, the team conducted an in-depth investigation with the C-suite, gathering insights to align on the company’s brand position. This exercise helped distill key brand attributes, providing a foundation for the identity exploration. From there, the creative process unfolded—beginning with an internal mood board session, followed by art direction, and ultimately leading into logo design.
The Logo Refresh
The redesigned logo embodies Moneytree's mission to connect individuals and financial institutions. The wordmark features a connection between the 'y' and 't', with a sprout symbolizing growth, reflecting the company's commitment to fostering financial confidence and well-being.
Connecting the ‘y’ and ‘t’ was a deliberate choice to reinforce that the name is a single word. In the past, it was often mistakenly written as ‘Money Tree,’ and this subtle design detail helped clarify the correct spelling.
"Neil consistently impressed with his broad range of skills from UI/UX design, brand design and web design as well as his professionalism and commitment to our organization."
Brand guide
To ensure consistent brand execution, extensive guidelines were developed for internal teams and external media. These guidelines covered various brand components, including color systems, iconography, and diagram systems, providing a cohesive framework for all branding efforts.
The brand rollout
As part of the rebranding rollout, video advertisements were created for platforms such as YouTube, the Apple App Store, and Google Play Store. Additionally, a wallpaper creator was designed to introduce the new brand internally, catering to the increased use of Zoom backgrounds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through this comprehensive rebranding project, Moneytree successfully realigned its brand identity to reflect its growth and diversification, strengthening its position in both consumer and business markets.
Redesigning the website
The previous website, being 8 years old, no longer represented Moneytree's expanded business model. The redesign unified multiple markets and countries under a single domain, enhancing user tracking and incorporating the new brand aesthetics across all business segments.
"Neil is a creative genius and one of my all time favorite Designers. As a Product Manager, I am constantly blown away by his ability to come up with creative, out of the box solutions that solve the user's needs."
Getting internal buy-in
A successful rebrand isn’t just about updating the logo or refreshing the website—it’s about making sure the people behind the company truly connect with the new identity. For Moneytree, getting internal buy-in was a huge priority. The brand needed to feel natural and intuitive for employees so they could confidently represent it in their work.
To help with this, we designed and built a custom wallpaper creator app as part of the internal brand rollout. Employees could generate their own branded wallpapers for their laptops and Zoom backgrounds, choosing from different colors, patterns, illustrations, and placements. It was a simple yet engaging way to encourage people to start interacting with the new identity in a personal way.
Beyond visuals, the rebrand also needed to be practical. To make it easier for the sales team to communicate Moneytree’s offerings, we introduced pre-built design system components for diagrams. These elements allowed sales presentations to be more visually consistent and aligned with the refreshed brand, making it easier to tell Moneytree’s story in a clear and compelling way.
Envisioning the consumer app
While much of the rebrand focused on redefining Moneytree’s presence across platforms, we also took the opportunity to explore what the transformation could mean for the user experience. A concept for the consumer app was developed, envisioning how the new brand could come to life in the product itself.
This included an updated user interface with a fresh color scheme and refined components that reflected the new brand language. A major highlight was the reimagining of how users track their savings. Instead of static numbers, a new weekly chart visualization provided a more dynamic and engaging way for users to see their financial progress.
Though conceptual, this vision laid the groundwork for future iterations of the app, ensuring that Moneytree’s brand evolution wasn’t just about appearances but also about enhancing the experience for its users.
