Liberté Brand Development Process Book by Maricriss del Rosario

By Mari del Rosario GR620 Visual Thinking Instructor Sandra Isla Fall ‘21

“

You must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you.

”

—Dave Ramsey

Contents Concept Development 04 06 08 08 14

Topics for Investigation Concept Exploration Brainstorming Final Topic

Brand Research 16 18 19 20 23 24

Brand Framework SWOT Analysis Personas Stakeholders Competitors

Brand Development 28 30 31 32 34 37 40

Image Concept Initial Naming Moodboard Visual Identity Logo Development Poster Series

Final Deliverables 46 48 68 78

Bootcamp Journal Mobile App

01 Concept Development

Topics for Investigation

Concept Exploration

Brainstorming

Final Topic

Topics for Investigation We selected five topics that interested us the most, and had the potential to create an underlying theme for the semester.

01 Online Safety for Kids Adolescents who partake in social media and online are prone to exposure of sexual solicitation. Reason being, kids aren’t taught how to practice online safety, they don’t realize they are being solicited or know how to navigate it.

02 Anxiety in Adults People with social anxiety fear gatherings and social interactions and might avoid these situations completely.

03 Covid in SF 23% of San Francisco’s population are still unvaccinated mainly consisting in people 20-30 years old. With the surge of the Delta variant, more people can become susceptible to contracting or carrying the virus which can then spread.

04 Financial Planning for Young Adults People think they are spending less than they actually are. Because people aren’t aware of how much they are spending, they often overspend, causing debt to add up and more financial stress.

05 Decline in Reading for Enjoyment Reading for leisure declined over the years across all ages.Because people don’t find reading enjoyable, they won’t be inclined to read books, therefore won’t stimulate their brain in positive ways such as building vocabulary, prevent cognitive decline, reduce stress, etc.

Concept Exploration From the five topics, I chose to go with Financial planning for young adults. From there I refined my topic into three ideas regarding financial literary among millennials. I ended up combining the idea of 1 and 3 since they go hand-in-hand.

Title Better Budgeting, Better Living

Question How can I guide young adults to budget, set goals, and track expenses to help them become more financially independent?

Summary Creating a budget and keeping track of your expenses can be overwhelming especially when you don’t know where to start. I hope to educate young adults on knowing how to start their financial plan stress-free and efficiently by creating goals both short and long-term.

Title Early Bird Catches the Worm / Investing In Your Future

Question Why aren’t young adults investing early?

Summary Young adults put more focus on saving rather than investing because they don’t know how to invest. They would much rather wait till they have enough money before putting it towards investments. I hope to teach people the importance of investing in stocks and bonds early to increase their wealth.

Title A Guide to Living Debt-Free

Question How can people minimize/reduce debt and live a financially secure life?

Summary Young adults feel crippled by debt especially after taking out loans for a higher education. Rather than living comfortably, a portion of their income may go towards paying off debt. I want to create a system to help people with budgeting and tracking that best suits their financial needs to reduce debt and towards a comfortable lifestyle.

Brainstorming Using Post-it notes and a large space, I created a “game board” on which to think more about elements of my idea. And from those results, I turned it into a digital poster.

How my board initially started.

A detailed shot of various terms that relate to my topic. In this case, these terms were under the categories of “Necessities” and “Long-Term Goals (+5 years)”.

Guiding Young Adults to Financially Plan Better Short-Term/Mid-Term Goals (1 - 5 years) Creating a monthly budget

Saving $1000 within a few months

Pay off credit card debt

Pay utility bills

Find a personal financial advisor

Pay off student loans

Create a yearly budgeting plan

Budget for public transportation

Budget payment for rent

Better tracking of income & expenses

Pay off non-credit card debt

Savings for down-payment for car

Savings for rent payment

Savings for school supplies

Budget for groceries

Necessities (needs) Pay off student loans

Pay off phone in full

Budget for pet expenses

Savings for medical expenses

Savings for car repairs

Minimize overspending

Savings for emergency funds

Savings for retirement

Savings for college education

Automate finances/billing

Savings for inheritance

Savings for down-payment for house

Savings for wedding

Pay off mortgage

Start 401k

Build good credit/ FICO score

Savings for insurance

Become financially independent

Luxuries (wants) Budget for subscriptions (food delivery, streaming platforms, etc.)

Eliminate/reduce high-interest debt

Savings for a new wordrobe

Savings for small vacations

Budget for video games

Savings for car modifications

Investing in bitcoin

Savings for a new computer/laptop

Savings for a new television

Budgeting for Christmas gifts

Budget for eating out/food deliveries

Savings for concerts

Savings for makeup/skincare

Savings for general shopping

Budget for medication

Long-Term Goals (5+ years) Savings for a pet

Savings for home improvement/renovations

Savings for relocation

Savings for cosmetic surgery

Becoming a millionaire

Savings for new phone

Savings for starting a business

Savings for a new bag

Savings for child’s college education

Savings in case of unemployment

Savings for a motorcycle

Retiring early

Savings for dream vacation

Savings for broken appliances

Savings for home gym equipment

Savings for having children

Savings for buying a second home

Final Topic Financial Management for Millennials After further exploration of concepts one and three, I learned that young adults within the ages of 18-34 show higher rates of developing bad financial habits. From overspending to even late payments, millennials are struggling with managing debt and their spending. These bad habits can get in the way of achieving their financial goals in life. By teaching young adults the importance of having financial literacy and providing the necessary tools, millennials can reach their goals stress-free.

02 Concept Development

Brand Framework

SWOT Analysis

Personas

Stakeholders

Competitors

Brand Framework At this point, I am formalizing my brand into my Final Project idea. The goal is to be creating something new rather than reinventing an existing brand or identity.

Name Liberté (Meaning ‘Freedom’ in French)

Category Service

Location Office on Montgomery, San Francisco

Scope Local organization

Background Rather than being just a service, Liberté will be more like a friend to guide you every step of the way while empowering you to take control of your finances. It will teach you to manage debt rather than making it seem like a daunting obligation so you can build good credit. Instead of saving after being debt-free, it will help you understand how to save while also paying down debt.

Purpose With Liberté, we understand the overwhelming feeling of not knowing where to begin when it comes to tackling debt. We know the importance of achieving financial goals and hope to help those who are willing to reach them one step at a time.

SWOT Analysis Strengths At Liberté, we take pride in our ability to create close relationships with our users by building a foundation on trust.

Weaknesses Although we provide services to help you manage your finances, we are not a financial institution.

Opportunities We hope to expand our services internationally based on the current standings of the economy and international market.

Threats Other competitors in the form of businesses as well as financial softwares are our biggest threats.

Personas Here I created three archetypical people who would be interested in my brand, Liberté.

Erica, 25

(Anxious Shopper) Occupation Customer Service Representative

N eed

Income $53k-$56k

m it th e

Credit Score 647 Spending Habits $2000/month Financial Goals • Reduce credit card debt • Build good credit / Better her credit score • Save money for down-payment on a house Traits • Makes purchases without looking at the price tag because she has a high credit limit and doesn’t feel bad when buying things • Frequently visits Sephora and spends $50-$100 each visit because she loves to buy the newest makeup • Makes impulse purchases from Amazon at least once or twice a week because she finds temporary happiness when she receives her packages • Suffers from anxiety hence she doesn’t frequently check her bank account (“out of sight, out of mind”)

• Enjoys watching HGTV so she has an idea of how to decorate her future home • On Wednesdays she treats herself by having food delivered to her apartment • Because she doesn’t check her bank account often she sometimes miss her credit card payments

ost !

Kn owled geable, bu t sti ll interested

Jared, 28

(Vacation-Seeker) Occupation Project Engineer Income $68k-71k Credit Score 763 Spending Habits $1400/month Financial Goals • Maintain a good credit score • Save up for a one-month trip to Europe • Minimize his auto loan balance Traits • Has auto-pay set up to make consistent payments towards his credit card debt so he isn’t worried about missing a payment

• Likes to budget for big vacations since he enjoys travelling out of the country at least once or twice a year

• Enjoys cooking at home than eating out so he can save money and eat healthier

• Owns an SUV so he has room for his German Shepherd

• Likes to use budgeting apps as a result he is on top of spending habits

• Enjoys camping and the outdoors because he is an Eagle Scout

• On the rare occasion he eats out, he prefers to round up the bill total to an even number so his account is at an even number as well.

’t oes n d t u b s te d , e beg i n r e o t t In e whe r k n ow

Amanda, 22 (Realistic Dreamer)

Occupation Student & Part-time Social Media Coordinator Income $52k-$55k Credit Score 698 Spending Habits $800/month Financial Goals • Pay off student loan • Save money to move out • Make better budgeting plans Traits • Enjoys going thrift shopping to re-purpose clothes to save money

• Enjoys watching Netflix and reading because she is a homebody

• Doesn’t own a car therefore she uses public transportation or bikes

• Loves the company of her family hence she doesn’t mind living at home

• Spends most of her money on eating out because she has her own food blog

• Has an obsession with Disney as a result she owns an annual pass

• In her last college semester and is currently lives at home so she can save up money for her own place

Stakeholders In regards to the business side of the brand, these three groups would also be interested in the brand.

Customers Customers are our primary stakeholders as they help drive the success of the company. Since Liberte is a service-based brand, our success is measured by the satisfaction of our customers. We exist to help those who want to have financial freedom.

Employees Our employees such as our customer service representatives and financial advisors are the backbone |of the company. Through exceptional service and dependable advise, we are able to gain the trust of our customers. Following their success, our company can strive and continue to provide a healthy workplace.

Partners Our partnership with third-party security companies help provide our customers with the relief that their financial information remains private and secure. This helps in creating a safe and reliable environment for both our employees and customers. Our success is also their success.

Competitors There are many apps/companies that focus on budgeting and tracking such as Intuit/Mint, Credit Karma, etc that assess your finances. It becomes an inspiration to put more focus on addressing debt and minimizing it as the main goal. On that note, Liberté will bring light on reaching your financial goals by providing guidance on how to do so.

Our

bigg

e st

co m

p et i

to r !

Mint A budgeting app to help with efficiently paying off your bills. It is known for how easy it is to use as well as keeping everything in one place.

Why We’re Different While our biggest competitor is Mint focuses on tracking your money after your purchases, with Liberté we help you plan your spending ahead of time. That way, you know where you’ll be allocating your money so you can budget better and stay on track with saving towards your goals.

Quicken A software program that focuses on helping you create a debt payoff plan by extracting money additional money from your monthly budget. Those funds will go towards paying off your debt faster while also prioritizing debt with the highest interest rate.

Why We’re Different What sets us aside from our competitor Quicken, is our ability to go beyond just extracting additional money. With the help from our financial advisors, we can create a plan together human-to-human than with a simple software. Their customer service hours are limited whereas Liberté offers around the clock service. You’ll get real help in real time.

ChangEd Automates regular extra payments to help pay off student debt early. It connects your loans and bank accounts and creates an FDICinsured ChangEd savings account.

Why We’re Different ChangEd purely focuses on helping to pay down student debt. What differentiates us from ChangEd is that we focus on all different types of debt—from student loans, auto loans, mortgages, general loans, and even credit card debt! We plan to help our customers in various aspects of their financial situations.

03 Brand Development

Image Concept

Initial Naming

Mood Board

Visual Identity

Logo Development

Poster Series

Image Concept Tone (Casual) Here at Liberté our approach to providing our financial services is causal—like a conversation with a friend who cares about you. We know the overwhelming feeling of not knowing where to begin when it comes to tackling debt. We know the importance of achieving financial goals and hope to help those who are willing to reach them one step at a time.

Keywords Trustworthy It is important that we believe in you and your goals in order to have an overall positive experience. When you put your trust in us, you’ll notice that paying down debt and saving is less stressful as we collaborate. Trust can come in many forms—respect and building a bond.

Freedom Having the life we desire isn’t completely unattainable. Financial freedom can come in the form of lowering credit card debt, having a sustainable amount in your savings, or being completely debt free. You are the one to define what financial freedom means to you and we’ll help you reach those goals.

Empowerment To help with tackling debt and saving money for your future, it is our duty to empower you. While we’re here to help guide you, we also will provide you the right tools to give you the confidence to take action on your own. We’re here to be your stepping stone.

Initial Naming With the concept in mind, I generated a list of at least three names for each of these seven categories for a minimum total of 21 names.

Founder Montero

MDR

Mari DR

RYD

Financing x Mari

Y.M.Y.L

Descriptive

Mony

Debt Reducer

Reduc

Debt Free

Freedm

Debtonator MOMO Make Moves

Metaphor

i n ner

Magic Spell

Money Moves

Fabricated

Th e w

Acronym

Eliminat MNMZ Futur

Combinations MiniDebt ReducingDebt

Soldi

MyMoney

Moneta

MyLife

Debitio Minuo Libré Liberté

Moodboard trustworthy freedom empowerment When creating this mood board, I wanted to portray my brand in a way that centered around the sense of familiarity, comfort, youth, and trust. My previous mood boards were too busy and bold and didn’t provide the right feeling. My final moodboard leans more on typographic styles through san-serif typefaces. Reason being, san-serifs have a very solid foundation similar to being like building blocks which I want my brand to come off as.

Visual Identity Typography

Graphic Elements

Pulp Display ABCDE FG H IJ KLM NOPQ RSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFG H IJ KLM NOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Avenir ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV WXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV W X Y Z abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Color Palette

100

“

Never spend your money before you have it.

”

—Thomas Jefferson

Logo Development The design of my brand’s logo changed a lot as the weeks progressed. While I continued to explore and develop my topic, my typographic and iconographic changed along with it.

Typographic

Iconographic

Final Logo After narrowing down on a specific audience, millennials, I intended for my logo to give off the feeling of youth as well as a sturdy foundation. In the end, my final logo is a combination of an iconographic and typographic solution where the icon is embedded in the typography. This enables me to utilize the icon throughout my deliverables.

ta r s h e s rese n t t f o p e e r c i ca n at it g n if d is th i s Th e y b r a n dom m f re e fo r d n ea hop

Poster Series My set of posters have changed a lot compared to the beginning. Initially I wanted to focus on persuasive posters, but being that my topic revolves around educating millennials, I chose to change gears. In the end, I turned to informative posters as a way to help in a quick manner.

Initial stages of the posters

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Initial stages of the posters

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Initial stages of the posters

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04 Deliverables

Event / Bootcamp

Product / Journal

Digital / App

Money Management Bootcamp Event Through a 3 day bootcamp, Liberté is connecting professional financial advisors with young adults who want to gain control of their finances. It is also a good way for millennials to be around other like-minded people and to show that there are others on the same boat. An event is a great way to bring together people with a common goal of reaching financial freedom, granted they have the tools such as a lesson plan and activities to help get them there.

Welcome Kit After registration, attendees will receive a swag bag/ welcome kit along with an ID badge. The swag bag will come in the form of a backpack to easily carry their essentials for class. Inside the bag will have a branded t-shirt, reusable thermos bottle, and a stationery set.

Presentation Slide Deck

This part of the deliverable was initially in the form of a book/lesson plan. However, after doing more research, I realized that presentation slides would help with retaining the information as well as easily digestible. Rather than providing students with a textbook to learn on their own, a presentation creates a more engaging atmosphere.

Presentation Slide Deck

63 63

“

The goal isn’t more money. The goal is living life on your terms.

”

—Will Rogers

Activity Sheets

To aid with the learning process, activity sheets will be handed out throughout the lesson so students can exercise their mind. One activity will involve differentiating wants vs needs while another activity will be actually setting a budget for various categories.

Home Activity Savings Card Game The object of this activity is to save the amount stated on the card. During a span of however long the user chooses, each day they will shuffle and pick a card from the deck. They will then transfer the specified amount into their savings account.

1-Month Journal Product

Through a 1-month journal, Liberte is implementing the methods learned to help save towards short-term and long-term goals. By providing a product where users can see their income, how much their debt balance is, and what they’re saving towards, we hope to make budgeting easier at a micro level. Rather than committing to year long journal, users may drop off at any point or feel discouraged to continue.

The set will be given upon registration for the bootcamp along with their other swag bag contents. In the set will be the journal along with a pen, pencils, erasers and stickers.

The roadmap is an essential part as it encourages students to visualize want they want to achieve. This will eventually help with mapping out their goals

For familiarity, we provided a non-dated calendar so students aren’t committed to finishing within a specific month.

At the core of the journal is the process of planning and budgeting. This is where students will implement the knowledge they’ve gained and put it in practice.

At the end of the month, students will have the opportunity to reflect on the past month. In doing so, they will be able to recognize their spending habits and work on what they want to improve on.

The rest of the journal will be a space where students can take notes during the bootcamp and can later go back.

Right: Lastly, once the one month is over, students will have the ability to use the QR code and download the partnering app. The app itself will further help them with reducing debt and saving.

Liberté Mobile App

The overall goal of my third deliverable is to provide mobility through a digital platform such as an app. In doing so, users have an all-in-one platform where they can actively save towards goals while also paying down debt. Aside from those main functions, the app can provide a breakdown of monthly expenses while showing you your top spending categories and spending frequencies. This in turn helps keep users accountable about their spending habits and giving them the opportunity to make changes. Our goal is to give your the necessary tools to continue on your journey to financial freedom through independency and automatic functions.

Wireframes Flow 1

Upon onboarding, new users are able to use the student ID given to them from the Bootcamp in order to create an account for the app. When doing so, they’ll create a profile, answer an onboarding survey, and set up their bank account. Being that trust is one of our main keywords for branding, we make sure to communicate that their information is safe and secure.

Wireframes Flow 1

Once clicking Next, user will be directed to their bank’s login page to follow their login instructions.

Wireframes Flow 2

When setting a budget, you’re able to see a breakdown of where you want to allocate your money. The expense card shows the total along with a further breakdown of where you’re spending your funds. If the user is overspending, the system will notify them via in app.

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Wireframes Flow 3

To implement a goal-oriented mindset, the app features the ability to create goals in which you’re able to set up and schedule auto-saving. This allows us to withdraw funds from your linked account and distribute/hold it in a specific goal. Users can go about their day without having to worry about manually saving.

Wireframes Flow 4

A big part of Liberté is providing the necessary tools. That being said, we aim to connect users to certified financial advisors via chat.

Wireframes Flow 5

Aside from linking your account automatically during onboarding, users have the option to link additional bank accounts manually.

Final Thoughts There aren’t many curriculums in school in place to teach people how to manage their money and to avoid debt. That’s why millennials tend to find themselves in massive amounts of debt from student loans, car payments, credit card debt, etc. In doing so, many don’t realize this can affect their credit score and can hold them back from milestones like buying a home. Being a millennial myself, this project has taught me the importance of being on top of my finances. Managing savings, expenses, and debt is extremely overwhelming when you don’t have the proper tools. Hence the birth of the brand Liberté—much like the name implies, Liberté aims to be that stepping stone for those who don’t know where to begin but want to reach their version of financial freedom. Through these three deliverables, they’re meant to be used in a linear fashion. In a sense, the bootcamp is where you learn the basics of money moneymanagement and the 1-month journal is a space to track your spending habits by utilizing the knowledge from the bootcamp. Once completing the journal the next step is using an app that aids with doing the saving for you.

“

The best thing money can buy is financial freedom.

”

—Rob Berger

Credits Icons

Freepik from Flaticon

Images

Corrine Kutz from Unsplash Jongmin Lee Mari del Rosario Matt Ragland from Unsplash Nathan Dumlao from Unsplash Oliur from Unsplash Sincerely Media from Unsplash STIL from Unsplash

Info

InCharge Debt Solutions Ramsey Solutions Sapling

Liberté Brand Development Process Book

Articles inside

Journal

Competitors

Stakeholders

Topics for Investigation

Image Concept

SWOT Analysis

Final Topic

Moodboard