OKTO combine custom type, tech and 3D in their composed identity for insurtech brand Insurely

With the intention of making insurance as open, accessible and understandable as possible, Stockholm’s insurtech company Insurely are looking to make a splash in the finance industry; shifting from their prior B2C service towards a direct B2B structure. Working with banks and insurance companies to better develop the technology behind their online offerings.

Mirroring the importance placed on clarity and transparency within the company, as well as their digital expertise, Stockholm-based branding agency OKTO have developed Insurely’s tech-savvy identity and brand strategy; crafting a comprehensive visual system alongside their tone of voice, messaging, bespoke 3D artwork and custom typography. All of which is led by the inclusion of playful geometric shapes.

“Insurely develop solutions for the insurance industry and the focus is on simplifying a world that is quite complex and intimidating,” Design Director Richard Hedberg tells us, “so in line with that, the base concept of the brand shapes was to take numerals and operators and simplify them,” he adds. Taking a subject that is fundamentally mathematical and turning it into something fun, peculiar and organic, without being overtly silly in their application.

Helping find this balance between spirited play and functionality is OKTO’s use of colour, having developed a comprehensive palette for the brand. “Traditionally there’s a really high prevalence of blue and red, so we wanted to avoid that,” Hedberg explains, discussing the insurance industry’s tropes. “An important strategic outcome from the project was the importance of working alongside the big players in the insurance industry,” he adds, “whilst trying to drive change by innovation, edge and competence rather than revolting against them,” landing on green as a neutral yet contemporary option. “It still feels modern and exciting,” Hedberg recalls, “allowing us to stand out especially compared to the other competitors in the insurance B2B segment.”

Also aiding Insurely in standing out from the crowd is the bespoke typography crafted for the identity, beginning with the wordmark itself. “The wordmark is custom drawn but we took a lot of inspiration from Blaak by Måns Grebäck,” Hedberg remarks, “we liked the combination of the straight terminals together with the flared serifs,” he adds, customising the letterforms by rounding the edges, and in doing so bridging the gap between the wordmark and the supporting type. Resulting in an ownable wordmark that pays homage to its technical context, while allowing a more characterful and candid side to shine through alongside it.

The headline typeface used across the brand takes the form of Eclectotype’s Gelica, as well as Insurely’s very own custom typeface; Insurely Sans. “Since the core business of Insurely is to open up the insurance industry and make data accessible to new actors in insurance,” Hedberg notes, “we felt that working with an open-source typeface really played well with that mentality,” basing the custom typeface on Hanken Design Co.’s HK Grotesk. “Our focus for adapting it was to add a bit more personality and details that ties in with the logotype such as the lowercase ‘y,’” Hedberg concludes, “we also redrew all the numerals to work better in the digital product as Insurely Sans works as the white label font in all their products.”

OKTO

Insurely