The playful and the procedural: we speak to Hay and Christopher Doyle about their branding process

Over the course of 18 months, Sydney-based design studio Christopher Doyle & Co. have developed the identity for Australian neobank Hay; a bank determined to bring truly modern financing to the 21st century.

Thriving within the simplicity of core design principles, Hay’s identity is vibrant and energetic as the result of an exuberant colour palette and logomark. Applied across digital and physical areas, the result of CD&Co’s work is an enormously comprehensive identity with cohesion at its centre.

Through a “long (and often frustrating) process,” Christopher Doyle remarks, CD&Co also found Hay’s name, narrowing it down from their original 60 contenders. “These days it’s incredibly difficult to land on simple, familiar words and be able to trademark them,” he explains, “there are a couple of other ‘Hay’ brands out there but nothing in the banking space so we had clearance.”

With the references to ‘making hay’ and ‘hay day,’ as well as replacing the casual greeting ‘hey,’ CD&Co loved the name for its copywriting potential, simplicity and friendliness. “Aside from being strategically and creatively right,” Doyle explains, “it’s about securing ownership in the category,” adding “not being able to trademark names is how you lose a lot of great options.” All of which needed to be applied with an element of caution, however, as Doyle notes that although “there’s a lot of fun to be had with the word,” it is important not to be overused.

In conversation with Alex Lloyd, the Chief Brand & Marketing Officer at Hay, he recalls the selection process of deciding to work with CD&Co – the result of which has been instrumental in Hay’s remarkable success. After looking at several Australian studios, admiring their previous branding efforts, Lloyd explains “although mobile-first products were largely being touted as for ‘millennials,’ we saw opportunities with a much broader customer base,” adding that they therefore “needed to find a studio with a level of sophistication in their creative work and process to reflect this.” With CD&Co’s “long history of beautiful, playful, strategic and sophisticated work,” they quickly determined them as the right people for the job.

Discussing the complexity of responding to Hay’s brief of a rigorous brand that can not only cope but feel comfortable across all the spaces it needs to be applied, Doyle tells us “it was challenging but also a process we go through with most projects actually,” knowing that there would be uses from outdoor advertising to the mobile application design. “The logo had to look great big and work really hard when small,” he recalls, “typefaces were a huge part of that too,” he adds; needing something that could be impactful on a large scale and reduce down to a smaller size without any difficulty. “We also wanted to head away from the Circular-esque approach of so many digital startups,” Doyle explains, instead aiming for something more far-reaching.

In conversation with Alex Lloyd, the Chief Brand & Marketing Officer at Hay, he recalls the selection process of deciding to work with CD&Co – the result of which has been instrumental in Hay’s remarkable success. After looking at several Australian studios, admiring their previous branding efforts, Lloyd explains “although mobile-first products were largely being touted as for ‘millennials,’ we saw opportunities with a much broader customer base,” adding that they therefore “needed to find a studio with a level of sophistication in their creative work and process to reflect this.” With CD&Co’s “long history of beautiful, playful, strategic and sophisticated work,” they quickly determined them as the right people for the job.

Discussing the complexity of responding to Hay’s brief of a rigorous brand that can not only cope but feel comfortable across all the spaces it needs to be applied, Doyle tells us “it was challenging but also a process we go through with most projects actually,” knowing that there would be uses from outdoor advertising to the mobile application design. “The logo had to look great big and work really hard when small,” he recalls, “typefaces were a huge part of that too,” he adds; needing something that could be impactful on a large scale and reduce down to a smaller size without any difficulty. “We also wanted to head away from the Circular-esque approach of so many digital startups,” Doyle explains, instead aiming for something more far-reaching.

NB International lays the typographic foundations of the identity as their chosen typeface, giving an affable tone of voice to a brand that is, in the end, a bank – as well as being flexible enough to work across endless platforms and scales. “We did extensive type research for the project,” Doyle tells us, “we wanted something more technical-looking and less round and friendly, which seems to be more common at the moment.” Still feeling accessible with it’s subtle intricacies, such as NB International’s soft rounded corners, Doyle explains “we were also set pretty early on in setting the wordmark and headlines in sentence case, so how the letters stacked and the curves of the ‘a’ and ‘y’ were very important.”

“From the outset, we wanted vibrant, bright colours and for it to be a brand that had a lot of colour,” Doyle explains, with lots of colour palettes up for consideration, “as opposed to being led by one or two hero colours.” Wishing the logo to have multiple colour combinations itself as well as having to work consistently across digital and print-based applications, the choices were vital in the success of fully conveying the identity and the brand’s intention. Their end approach, Doyle explains, is leading “with the navy/purple to allow for darker, moodier applications with pops of colour,” without the need for a solid rich black.

With research directing the final route of the project, CD&Co did comprehensive audits of the world’s other leading neobanks, finding it a great way to not only see what their competitors are doing, but more importantly what they are not doing. “It’s all a constant reference point for us throughout a project,” Doyle notes, “to ensure we are creating something distinct in the category that feels right for the brand and its audiences.” To this end, Hay also did a significant amount of preliminary research as part of their strategic brand position work, focusing on the experiences of mobile-first banking. “We had a fair idea of the challenges and opportunities and where we felt we could play in a new space,” Lloyd explains, “but we did not lead CD&Co to any creative solutions, we simply presented the research, insights and positioning and let them do what they do best.” Not having a clear direction of what they wanted the brand to look like initially, Lloyd remarks “I think you should expect to be challenged and surprised by your creative partners,” asking “why else would you hire them?”

With research directing the final route of the project, CD&Co did comprehensive audits of the world’s other leading neobanks, finding it a great way to not only see what their competitors are doing, but more importantly what they are not doing. “It’s all a constant reference point for us throughout a project,” Doyle notes, “to ensure we are creating something distinct in the category that feels right for the brand and its audiences.” To this end, Hay also did a significant amount of preliminary research as part of their strategic brand position work, focusing on the experiences of mobile-first banking. “We had a fair idea of the challenges and opportunities and where we felt we could play in a new space,” Lloyd explains, “but we did not lead CD&Co to any creative solutions, we simply presented the research, insights and positioning and let them do what they do best.” Not having a clear direction of what they wanted the brand to look like initially, Lloyd remarks “I think you should expect to be challenged and surprised by your creative partners,” asking “why else would you hire them?”

Acting as the lead creative on Hay’s side of the project, Lloyd explains how the concern for crafting a brand that is both functionally and aesthetically satisfying for customers, as well as creating something that is nothing like it’s competitors, is “two sides of the same coin.” As is the case for financial services, Lloyd tells us that “providing a product experience that is all-new isn’t the goal,” rather it is the level of “familiarity in the right places” that “helps reassure customers.” That being said, however, “we have opportunities to reshape things that weren’t previously possible,” Lloyd suggests, hoping to surprise customers with a service that matches their lifestyle. “That extraordinary consideration is in everything we do,” he adds, “and therefore should always feel like Hay.”

CD&Co look to continue to work with Hay’s in-house design team, still being brought in for campaign and videographic work. “We are keen to do more with it,” Doyle adds, which they will no doubt do in the future after their successful, seemingly effortless collaboration. Fluidly working from the beginning, Doyle recalls that although there were other concepts at the start, Hay’s frequent collaborative sessions led them to agreeing the chosen direction early on. “The bulk of the work was put into this concept,” he concludes.

CD&Co

Hay