Card one money
CRAFTING THE BANKING ALTERNATIVE THAT LEAVES NO ONE BEHIND
SERVICES
BRAND STRATEGY
ART DIRECTION
Client
Card One Money
Location
LONDON
Year
2024
Info
Card One Money had a promise to keep: two decades of trust, and a commitment to never leave anyone behind. The challenge was to evolve the brand without losing the familiarity and reassurance that people had come to rely on. I built an identity around that principle. A wordmark that feels contemporary but not exclusive, confident without being distant. The colour palette shifts away from cold fintech blues towards something warmer and more human, designed to feel accessible at every touchpoint. Card artwork was treated as something to be earned, not just issued, giving it a sense of value and presence in the hand.
impact
Built a unified brand system across UK and international markets, customer satisfaction and retention increased by 57%
Leaving no one behind
Card One Money came with twenty years of earned trust from an audience most fintechs overlook. I evolved the brand without breaking that relationship, introducing a proprietary numeral, a warmer more human palette, and a refined visual language built for clarity and confidence. Familiar, but now more assured and distinctive.
my role: behind the work
PROBLEMS COM FACED
The Card One Money brand was carrying the weight of years of rapid product growth without a unifying visual or narrative system. Across markets, languages, and channels, the brand spoke in slightly different voices. Some assets felt premium, others felt utilitarian, and very little of it tied back to a single, ownable identity. I led a full brand refinement, rebuilding the guidelines from the ground up to give the wider team a confident, single source of truth. This included a redesigned typographic system, a tightened colour story rooted in the brand's signature pink and black palette, a comprehensive grid and pattern library, and a properly governed asset management system that scaled across the UK and our priority international markets.
Campaigns worked on
At Card One Money, I led the strategy and execution of campaigns built around the brand's core promise of inclusive, no nonsense banking. This included spearheading the "Leave No One Behind" campaign, positioning Card One Money as the account for those underserved by traditional high street banks: the self employed, gig workers, and anyone tired of being declined for reasons that have nothing to do with how they actually live and earn.
Outcomes
The work delivered both commercial momentum and meaningful brand equity. Card One Money, trading under Prepaid Financial Services, now reports approximately $5.7 million in revenue, supported by sustained growth in account openings and switching volume across our priority diaspora segments. The customer response has been just as telling. The brand currently holds a 4.4 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot, a direct reflection of customers feeling seen and served by a financial brand that finally speaks their language. App store sentiment trended consistently upward, share of voice grew in our key markets, and Card One Money evolved from a fragmented identity into a living, breathing system. Every touchpoint, from app to OOH to community activation, now pulls in the same direction. The result is a brand that performs commercially and feels unmistakably Card One Money: inclusive, warm, and built for the people it serves.
