C Hoare & Co Bank
Somo
Design Director & Lead Designer
Design direction
UX/UI design
Interaction design
Prototyping
I designed and gave creative direction to the future digital landscape for the oldest bank in the UK. Using Somo's conception process, I redesigned a premium brand; modern whilst sticking to traditional values.
Not surprisingly, being so in person and with a small customer base, the project was to bring them into the modern, contemporary and digital world, but in an appropriate way for them and their customers. We had to identify and understand changing customer expectations for a bank rich in history and heritage. We needed to find a digital solution to satisfy new customer expectations that ensured the brand’s reputation was maintained and developed, while introducing features with genuine values, all while inspiring cautious stakeholders to take bold steps forward.
C Hoare & Co is a bank I hadn’t heard of until working with them. Born in the 17th centry on Fleet street, and is still there to this day. Currently it's run by 11th and 12th generations of the Hoare family and if you want to join you need to request an invitation for a physical interview with one of the family members to see if you're the right kind of person with the right kind of values. Needless to say this bank is an exceptional audience of wealthy individuals from around the country and they have only a few thousand customers, which also boasts a great sense of community, privilege and wealth, and all the responsibility that comes with that.
Initially we engaged in a full staff and user research process to identify gaps and digital expectations. Leveraging the results of our research, myself and the head of UX used a conception process to define the new digital landscape. I then worked on the beginnings of a contemporary brand identity while also conceptualising an app worthy of such a prestigious bank in the modern world. This was then designed and prototyped by myself as a MVP application to put infront of a core panel of stakeholders and customers to start them on their new journey.
