Co-op Solutions

Founded over 40 years ago, Co-op Solutions has become the market-leading financial technology provider serving the nation’s credit unions.
    Wally and Sarah led the development of the logo and visual system, then worked with Co-op’s experience team to expand the visual language, templates, and touchpoints. Since launching the brand the friends have advised and designed on conferences, events, environments, and new product and services initiatives.

A loosely connected reseller of services

CO-OP Financial Services creates new ways for credit union members to use fintech services, allowing credit unions to compete with big banks and other fintech platforms.
    A name shift to Co-op Solutions was the first step. However, their brand identity system did not align with the innovative technology company they had become. More clarity and a simpler design approach would serve Co-op Solutions better at every touchpoint.

Working together through the process of reinvention

As a trusted extension to the experience team, we translated Co-op’s brand strategy into a refreshed and comprehensive design system.
    Making sure all employees understood why the brand was changing—and what the changes would mean to them—was a priority. Easily accessible templates and tools that worked for all departments was key.
    A robust design system and sensibility with flexible templates was made to empower their teams to create materials, address challenges as they arose, and showed them how to make well-designed communications that created a more connective design language across for all audiences.

A lighter and brighter primary palette elevates the Co-op dark red and new bright red brand colors.

A new typographic sensibility required a new primary typeface. Grilli Type Foundry’s GT America family was chosen to create a stronger and more coherent messaging hierarchy. Headlines and primary messages became shorter and benefit-driven across all mediums, from white papers and websites to social media posts and presentations.

Grid proportions based on the 1:2 geometry of the logo provides a foundation to give layouts more structure—especially important in digital and event contexts.

Imagery is brighter and lighter, supported by an icon and illustration style that is shared across the ecosystem.

Products and services are organized into pillars to give the marketing team a framework for working with other teams across the business.
    Once in place, signatures were designed to live in a range of external or internal touchpoints.

To support the online templates and tool kit on the asset hub, brand guidelines were developed for the use by both Co-op’s internal marketing team and their partner agencies.

A single provider of technology and services for credit unions

“We have been busy rethinking everything: the types of solutions we bring to market, our approach to client service and experience, the ways we communicate and work together internally, and ultimately how we, as one Co-op deliver.”

—Sam Paxton, Chief Experience Officer