OUR BRAND RULES Financeit Brand Guide 2015
HELLO 01 Financeit is Different
08 Colors 24 09 Usage Guidelines 26 6
OUR BRAND 02 Brand Values 10 02 Brand Character 10 02 Brand Promise 11 03 Trademark 12 03 Company Name 13
LOGOTYPE 04 Logotype 16 05 Tagline 18 06 Clearspace 20 07 Centering 22
16 Open Sans 17 Roboto
CO-BRANDING 10 Logo Lock Up 11 Visual Options
TYPOGRAPHY
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PHOTOGRAPHY 18 Photography
COLORS 12 Primary 13 Secondary
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48 50
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TONE OF VOICE 19 Tone of Voice
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ICONS & ILLUSTRATIONS 14 Icons & Illustrations 15 The Tag
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Hello
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FINANCEIT IS DIFFERENT Financeit速 is a free point of sale financing platform. We make it easy for businesses to offer their customers affordable payment options, empowering them to buy more of what they really want. Financeit is built for small and mediumsized businesses and their customers. Choosing Financeit means choosing a fair and transparent experience, from the point of application through to the end of every loan.
Financeit provides an origination and servicing platform and works with multiple lenders to offer financing solutions.
Financeit represents a better lending experience. We are not a bank or credit card. We make financing easy and accessible with better technology and a more human touch. MISSION STATEMENT
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Our Brand
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BRAND VALUES The Financeit brand is based on trust, transparency, easeof-use, and helping our Partners grow their businesses by giving them a free-to-use, industry-leading consumer financing platform.
BRAND CHARACTER Financeit is honest, upfront and open. Financeit is not a bank. Financeit is a team of professionals with a shared goal of helping businesses grow by providing them with an industry-leading financing platform and great customer service.
BRAND PROMISE We stand for fairness, transparency, and empowering our Partners to grow their business.
FAIR & TRANSPARENT
EMPOWERING
We never hide behind fine print, penalize customers for early payments, or backdate interest.
We’re here to help our Partners increase their closing rates and average transaction sizes, and grow their businesses.
FRIENDLY We are not a bank. We offer a genuine, friendly, human experience. INNOVATIVE We’re building an industry-leading platform, application, and service that makes financing easy. MODERN
COLLABORATIVE We work with our Partners to get their customers approved and help them build a financing strategy. RESPONSIBLE Our platform is safe, secure, and all servicing and origination is handed by our team of professionals.
We have made financing more accessible and flexible than ever with our mobile platform.
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TRADEMARK In written documents — articles, press releases, promotional materials — it is only necessary to use the ® symbol with the first instance of the company name, or with the most prominent placement of Financeit. The symbol should be superscripted in the top right of Financeit (“Financeit®”). It is a common misconception that each and every instance of the company name should bear a trademark symbol. Overuse creates visual clutter and may become distracting.
APPROVAL
Please follow up with our Marketing Department for trade mark application when in doubt.
COMPANY NAME Financeit is always spelled as one word, with a lowercase “i”. Using FinanceIT or FinanceIt is incorrect, and can be confusing to those unfamiliar with the company.
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Logotype
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LOGOTYPE The Financeit logo is the first point of contact of our brand. As the third payment option for many transactions, it will stand amongst many very well established financial brands, so treat it well.
The logo must only be used as is, and cannot be modified under any circumstances without permission. The logo cannot be used in body text. When mentioned in editorial copy, be mindful to spell Financeit with a lowercase “i” to retain consistency in our identity and branding. (See “Company Name” on page 15.)
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LOGOTYPE: TAGLINE The Financeit logo is available with our company tagline underneath it. It is meant to be used where there is no copy that signifies what Financeit is in the customer-facing marketing material. It should be used sparingly and only once per design.
The logo must only be used as is, and cannot be modified under any circumstances without permission. The logo cannot be used in body text. The tagline cannot be modified or changed without prior approval. APPROVAL
Please follow up with our Marketing Department for placement approval prior to using the tagline logo version.
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LOGOTYPE: CLEARSPACE Please observe the area around the logo and ensure no other elements intrude into its space. Use the x-height of the lowercase ‘n’ to identify the appropriate amount of space to leave around the logo.
The clearspace minimum, the x-height, can be referenced to the vertical height of the ‘n’ letter in the logotype (shown here as x), regardless of the size at which the logo is reproduced. Same principal applies to the tagline logo clearspace practice.
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LOGOTYPE: CENTERING Our logo requires manual adjustment when centered. The right side of the logo’s tag creates asymmetric negative space, and as a result the logo is left-side heavy and is visually unbalanced when auto centered.
To visually center the logo, move it over to the right Âź length of the tag.
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LOGOTYPE: COLORS Our logo colors play an important role in defining our identity and branding. Please always use the logo featuring the primary colors where possible. In other instances, please use the alternate logo color variations provided.
Primary Logo to be used whenever possible. Inverted Logo to be used as is on backgrounds where the primary logo becomes illegible and renders as hard to read. Monotone (White) Logo to be used on all other backgrounds that conflict with brand colors.
APPROVAL
Please follow up with our Marketing Department for placement approval when in doubt.
Primary Logo
Inverted Logo *includes the Financeit Blue background box
Monotone Logo *only the logotype, no background box
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09
LOGOTYPE: USAGE GUIDELINES To ensure that the branding stays consistent, a set of guidelines are outlined below.
The logo should always be used as is. No elements of the logo may be altered, repositioned, or individually scaled. The logo must always be used horizontally. The logo should always be displayed at the proper resolution. Please use the vector version (.eps, .ai, .svg) whenever possible to ensure high quality. The logo should always appear on solid background with sufficient clearspace surrounding the logo as illustrated on page 23.
Do not scale parts of logo.
Do not rotate.
Do not use on busy color or photo backgrounds.
Do not remove parts of logo.
Do not change colors.
Do use monotone logo this way.
Do not skew or distort.
Do not reproduce at low res.
Do not add embellishments. (eg. drop-shadow)
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Co-Branding
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CO-BRANDING: LOGO LOCK UP Logo placement illustrates the brand dominance. The dominant brand logo should always be placed on the left or top. Make sure to provide ample clearspace as indicated by our logo and logo lock up guidelines.
Primary Logo to be used whenever possible. The co-branding logos should always be optically of equal size. To lock up the logos, separate them by clear space equal to x-height. Do not use any vertical or horizontal dividers. All other Financeit predefined logo brand guidelines apply.
APPROVAL
Please follow up with our Marketing Department for lock up approval.
Vertical Lock Up
LOGO EDGE FOR OPTICALLY EQUAL SIZE
Horizontal Lock Up
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CO-BRANDING: VISUAL OPTIONS Financeit Dominant Creative — Financeit dominant creative can appear in creative Partner advertising.
Financeit logo should be placed as a single logo. If Partner logo placement required, please follow logo lock up guidelines. The Financeit color, fonts, and clean minimal design to be followed. For visuals, Financeit branded illustrations are preferred over photography.
APPROVAL
Please follow up with our Marketing Department for placement approval.
Partner Dominant Creative — Partner dominant creative that promotes Partner-Financeit relationships, should follow the logo lock up guidelines. The Partner should retain and follow its own brand guidelines.
Sponsorships — Sponsorships fall under Partner dominant creative guidelines.
Financeit logo should be used as a standalone. Primary Logo to be used whenever possible. Follow the Financeit clearspace logo guidelines. The logos should always be optically of equal size. All logos should be center-aligned along the vertical and horizontal axes.
APPROVAL
Please follow up with our Marketing Department for placement approval.
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Colors
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COLORS: PRIMARY Our colors give us personality. They are bright, bold and inspiring. They position us as being different from other traditional financial institutions. We must pay great attention to the hues we choose to use and make sure to maintain consistency as a part of Financeit branding.
Use these primary colors in text, headlines, and main design elements.
Financeit Blue PMS 539 C CMYK 97, 76, 50, 57 RGB 1, 38, 57 HEX #002539
Financeit Green PMS 7488 C CMYK 56, 0, 93, 0 RGB 114, 213, 74 HEX #72d54a
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COLORS: SECONDARY Our Secondary Color Palette features five additional hues in four shades. The main shades (outlined) are found in most of our illustrations and UI elements. The remaining shades are used as additional color effects only.
1a PMS 539 C CMYK 97, 76, 50, 57 RGB 1, 38, 57 HEX #002539
2a PMS 7741 C CMYK 78, 25, 100, 10 RGB 64, 135, 64 HEX #3F863F
3a PMS 7469 C CMYK 95, 60, 29, 9 RGB 0, 95, 133 HEX #005E85
4a PMS 7563 C CMYK 15, 41, 100, 0 RGB 218, 156, 41 HEX #D99B28
5a PMS 704 C CMYK 24, 95, 86, 19 RGB 163, 42, 46 HEX #A22A2E
6a PMS 668 C CMYK 69, 78, 28, 11 RGB 99, 75, 120 HEX #634B78
7a PMS 415 C CMYK 45, 36, 44, 3 RGB 146, 146, 137 HEX #919288
1b PMS 534 C CMYK 98, 85, 36, 27 RGB 38, 53, 94 HEX #1D345E
2b PMS 7738 C CMYK 75, 13, 100, 1 RGB 71, 161, 71 HEX #47A146
3b PMS 7468 C CMYK 89, 47, 25, 4 RGB 5, 115, 152 HEX #057298
4b PMS 143 C CMYK 2, 32, 91, 0 RGB 246, 179, 51 HEX #F6B332
5b PMS 703 C CMYK 19, 91, 68, 6 RGB 191 58, 74 HEX #BF3A4A
6b PMS 667 C CMYK 57, 63, 23, 3 RGB 125, 105, 144 HEX #7C688F
7b PMS 421 C CMYK 31, 24, 25, 0 RGB 179, 180, 179 HEX #B2B3B3
2c PMS 7488 C CMYK 56, 0, 93, 0 RGB 114, 213, 74 HEX #72d54a
3c PMS 7460 C CMYK 83, 39, 3, 0 RGB 7, 132, 193 HEX #0783C1
4c PMS 136 C CMYK 0, 27, 87, 0 RGB 254, 191, 59 HEX #FDBE3B
5c PMS 178 C CMYK 0, 80, 59, 0 RGB 241, 91, 92 HEX #F05A5C
6c PMS 7440 C CMYK 37, 60, 10, 0 RGB 167, 119, 166 HEX #A677A6
7c PMS Cool Gray 1 C CMYK 13, 11, 12, 0 RGB 219, 217, 214 HEX #DBD8D6
3d CMYK 12, 0, 5, 0 RGB 221, 241, 240 HEX #DDF0F0
4d CMYK 0, 17, 26, 0 RGB 255, 235, 194 HEX #FFEAC2
5d PMS 496 C CMYK 2, 25, 8, 0 RGB 243, 200, 207 HEX #F3C7CF
6d PMS 7443 C CMYK 11, 12, 2, 0 RGB 222, 217, 231 HEX #DED9E7
7d CMYK 4, 2, 3, 0 RGB 242, 243, 242 HEX #F1F3F1
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MAIN SHADES
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Icons & Illustrations
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ICONS & ILLUSTRATIONS Our icons and illustrations play an integral part in the Financeit branding design. They are simple, modern, colorful and fun. They speak about our personality, communicating our ideas in a visual and easy to comprehend manner. Our preference of custom illustrations over photography makes us different and allows us to stand out in the financial world.
Follow the Reductive Approach design principle. The icons and illustrations should be simple and straightforward. The icons and illustrations are front facing, featuring geometric shapes and straight hard shadows. Use colors from the Secondary Color Palette on page 41. For some illustrations color exceptions may apply.
Feature Icons
Angle the shadow at 40째. Color at 5% #000000 (black).
For other shadows use darker color shades from the Secondary Color Palette.
Illustrations
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THE TAG Our cut tag is an important graphical identity element. It represents the affordable payment plan options, a feature that drives our company forward. The tag can be taken from our logo and used to reinforce the brand in the icon or photography absent collateral.
The tag should be used as is. It cannot be modified (eg. removing the cut, hole) or rotated. The tag can be used in brand green or white only. The tag should be placed in the design so that it is recognizable.
APPROVAL
Please follow up with our Marketing Department for placement approval when in doubt.
Do not modify the tag.
Do not rotate the tag.
Do place the tag this way.
Do not change color. White is ok.
Do not hide the tag so that it is unrecognizable.
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Typography
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TYPOGRAPHY: OPEN SANS Primary Typeface — Open Sans is a humanist sans serif typeface designed by Steve Matteson, Type Director of Ascender Corp. Open Sans was designed with an upright stress, open forms and a neutral, yet friendly appearance. It was optimized for print, web, and mobile interfaces, and has excellent legibility characteristics in its letterforms. Open Sans plays an integral part in our branding, so use it whenever possible.
Use Open Sans for all print and online marketing material. Larger font, such as in titles and headlines requires manual kerning adjustment. For titles and subtitles use Open Sans bold, uppercase, with tracking at -20. Exceptions may apply. Please always refer to prior print and web projects to maintain consistency.
Open Sans is an open-source, optimized for the web font family, and is a part of the Google Font directory.
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TYPOGRAPHY: ROBOTO Secondary Typeface — Roboto has a dual nature. It has a mechanical skeleton and the forms are largely geometric. At the same time, the font features friendly and open curves. While some grotesks distort their letterforms to force a rigid rhythm, Roboto doesn’t compromise, allowing letters to be settled into their natural width. This makes for a more natural reading rhythm more commonly found in humanist and serif types.
Use Roboto in Partner facing application body text. Use Roboto in our consumer facing application where higher reading text density is required. For headlines and titles revert to Open Sans font family.
Roboto is an open-source, optimized for the web font family, and is a part of the Google Font directory.
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Photography
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PHOTOGRAPHY Our photography should focus on the human element whenever possible. Focus on Partners and / or customers where appropriate. Avoid using generic themed stock photography.
Clear and crisp. Positive. Feels natural. Realistic and relatable to our Partners. (No stock models, please!)
APPROVAL
Please follow up with our Marketing Department for photography approval.
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Tone of Voice
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TONE OF VOICE Merchant Partners and borrowers spend more time interacting with our websites — our marketing site, merchant portal, Help Center, and Direct-to-Customer experience — than they do with our sales team and support representatives. They should have as clear and friendly an experience in doing so as they do when speaking to a member of our team. Our websites and marketing materials represent the unified voice of Financeit. They should be compelling, usable, and consistent.
It’s all about the user. It’s not about us, or all of the nifty things our service does. It’s about what merchants and borrowers can accomplish when they choose Financeit.
CLARITY AND TRANSPARENCY
APPROACHABILITY AND TRUST
Transparency is both a company philosophy and a writing style. We want to achieve a friendly tone without our language calling attention to itself. Get to the point: express what it is users want to do and tell them how to do it.
We’re new and we’re exciting, but we’re also a financing company. They trust us with their credit history and personal information. Our language should frame all interactions in a suitably serious way, without being dour or authoritarian. We don’t want to sound like a bank, but we want our customers to trust us as intrinsically as they trust their bank.
Write in an active voice. Make it about what the user (borrower or merchant) is trying to accomplish. Write clearly and simply, both to aid in comprehension and to make our content easily-translatable.
Write minimally where you can, with an ear for translation. Complicated translations (for example, colloquialism or complex sentence construction) are expensive, time-consuming, and prone to errors.
Write in a clear and approachable voice. Our relationship with our customers is a collaboration, a partnership. We’re about getting the job done, and providing a clear and positive experience.
Don’t be flippant or too cute. Try to instill in our customers a feeling of trust. Don’t use prescriptive language. Tell our customers what they can do, not what they should or must do. Empower, don’t dictate.
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ŠFinanceit 2015