Mobile app

HSBC Iceberg

Sector

Fintech / Banking

HSBC Iceberg (now Kinetic) is a mobile-only business bank account designed to help UK small business owners stay in control of their business finances from the get-go.

Mobile app

HSBC Iceberg

Sector

Fintech / Banking

HSBC Iceberg (now Kinetic) is a mobile-only business bank account designed to help UK small business owners stay in control of their business finances from the get-go.

Mobile app

HSBC Iceberg

Sector

Fintech / Banking

HSBC Iceberg (now Kinetic) is a mobile-only business bank account designed to help UK small business owners stay in control of their business finances from the get-go.

We want it to look different from anything the bank has done; it needs to feel modern, exciting, and bold

The brief

We were tasked with reimagining the design and experience of a new HSBC product.

The ambition was to use this new mobile app as an opportunity to refresh and modernise the bank's design language, although retaining its foundational properties (colours, typography, etc).

The bank product stakeholders were very vocal about not wanting this new product to look like anything else the bank had done till then, as they felt the current design language was outdated and unintuitive.

We want it to look different from anything the bank has done; it needs to feel modern, exciting, and bold

The brief

We were tasked with reimagining the design and experience of a new HSBC product.

The ambition was to use this new mobile app as an opportunity to refresh and modernise the bank's design language, although retaining its foundational properties (colours, typography, etc).

The bank product stakeholders were very vocal about not wanting this new product to look like anything else the bank had done till then, as they felt the current design language was outdated and unintuitive.

We want it to look different from anything the bank has done; it needs to feel modern, exciting, and bold

The brief

We were tasked with reimagining the design and experience of a new HSBC product.

The ambition was to use this new mobile app as an opportunity to refresh and modernise the bank's design language, although retaining its foundational properties (colours, typography, etc).

The bank product stakeholders were very vocal about not wanting this new product to look like anything else the bank had done till then, as they felt the current design language was outdated and unintuitive.

The work

The project setup was a mix of different agencies covering design & experience, strategy, and advertising. On the client side, HSBC setup a separate project team outside the bank facilities, to insure higher focus and instil a 'startup environment'.

In these early stages of the product, when naming was still being decided, as well as other branding aspects (like how detached this product should be from the rest of the HSBC product catalog), the design & experience team started to work on 2 fronts:

  1. Looking at the whole HSBC UX and UI real estate, and unifying it into one cohesive library (note: at the time, different partners used different UI toolkits, depending on the product and channel)

  2. Create mood-boards and concepts, materialised in animated prototypes, as vision pieces for this new product aiming at stakeholder sign-off and engagement.

The outcome of both efforts was a new UI toolkit that although using the brand foundational elements (colour, typography etc) was the start of a new design language that looked considered, mobile-centred, and fresh. This new look and feel relied on large typography, use of white space, subtle gradient variation of the brand colours, new interaction patterns, and snappy animations - all of which contributed to a more exciting experience.

View prototype here (use website password).

Role

Design director

Team

2 senior designers

Duration

3 months

Skills

Brand governance

Workshop

Product design

Prototyping

Client presentation

The work

The project setup was a mix of different agencies covering design & experience, strategy, and advertising. On the client side, HSBC setup a separate project team outside the bank facilities, to insure higher focus and instil a 'startup environment'.

In these early stages of the product, when naming was still being decided, as well as other branding aspects (like how detached this product should be from the rest of the HSBC product catalog), the design & experience team started to work on 2 fronts:

  1. Looking at the whole HSBC UX and UI real estate, and unifying it into one cohesive library (note: at the time, different partners used different UI toolkits, depending on the product and channel)

  2. Create mood-boards and concepts, materialised in animated prototypes, as vision pieces for this new product aiming at stakeholder sign-off and engagement.

The outcome of both efforts was a new UI toolkit that although using the brand foundational elements (colour, typography etc) was the start of a new design language that looked considered, mobile-centred, and fresh. This new look and feel relied on large typography, use of white space, subtle gradient variation of the brand colours, new interaction patterns, and snappy animations - all of which contributed to a more exciting experience.

View prototype here (use website password).

Role

Design director

Team

2 senior designers

Duration

3 months

Skills

Brand governance

Workshop

Product design

Prototyping

Client presentation

The work

The project setup was a mix of different agencies covering design & experience, strategy, and advertising. On the client side, HSBC setup a separate project team outside the bank facilities, to insure higher focus and instil a 'startup environment'.

In these early stages of the product, when naming was still being decided, as well as other branding aspects (like how detached this product should be from the rest of the HSBC product catalog), the design & experience team started to work on 2 fronts:

  1. Looking at the whole HSBC UX and UI real estate, and unifying it into one cohesive library (note: at the time, different partners used different UI toolkits, depending on the product and channel)

  2. Create mood-boards and concepts, materialised in animated prototypes, as vision pieces for this new product aiming at stakeholder sign-off and engagement.

The outcome of both efforts was a new UI toolkit that although using the brand foundational elements (colour, typography etc) was the start of a new design language that looked considered, mobile-centred, and fresh. This new look and feel relied on large typography, use of white space, subtle gradient variation of the brand colours, new interaction patterns, and snappy animations - all of which contributed to a more exciting experience.

View prototype here (use website password).

Role

Design director

Team

2 senior designers

Duration

3 months

Skills

Brand governance

Workshop

Product design

Prototyping

Client presentation

Easy onboarding: connecting with APIs to make setup easy and effortless

Smart notifications: making everyday tasks easy and contextual

Surf & immerse: a new pattern to navigate transaction history

Easy onboarding: connecting with APIs to make setup easy and effortless

Smart notifications: making everyday tasks easy and contextual

Surf & immerse: a new pattern to navigate transaction history

Easy onboarding: connecting with APIs to make setup easy and effortless

Smart notifications: making everyday tasks easy and contextual

Surf & immerse: a new pattern to navigate transaction history

Card management made easy with multi-card support and smart security settings

Card management made easy with multi-card support and smart security settings

Card management made easy with multi-card support and smart security settings

Hello.

I'm Alex, a design / creative director with a background in interface, product and visual design, and a strong collaborative experience in UX, research, and design strategy.

Hello.

I'm Alex, a design / creative director with a background in interface, product and visual design, and a strong collaborative experience in UX, research, and design strategy.

Hello.

I'm Alex, a design / creative director with a background in interface, product and visual design, and a strong collaborative experience in UX, research, and design strategy.

© 2023 Alex Carvalho, all rights reserved. Disclaimer: none of the work showcased in this website contains real client content or data, and its sole purpose is to demonstrate creative skills and experience.

© 2023 Alex Carvalho, all rights reserved. Disclaimer: none of the work showcased in this website contains real client content or data, and its sole purpose is to demonstrate creative skills and experience.

© 2023 Alex Carvalho, all rights reserved. Disclaimer: none of the work showcased in this website contains real client content or data, and its sole purpose is to demonstrate creative skills and experience.