YouLend

Corporate Branding & Design Production

Project Management, Art Direction, Digital Assets, Print Production, Video Editing
Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, Indesign, After Effects), Figma, ChatGPT, Midjourney, Canva

Project Overview

Founded in 2016, YouLend is a leading embedded financing platform that enables banks, payment providers, marketplaces and software platforms to offer fast, flexible funding to their business customers. By combining advanced technology, data-driven underwriting and seamless API integrations, YouLend transforms how small businesses access capital embedding financing directly into the platforms they already use.

My Contributions

As Marketing & Brand Designer at YouLend, I developed a cohesive and scalable brand system, including the company’s first comprehensive brand book, a suite of presentation and marketing templates, and clearly defined design standards for use across the business.

Working closely with Marketing and Product, I translated the brand identity into consistent experiences across digital, print, web, product, and internal communications. I also partnered with cross-functional teams and senior stakeholders to integrate the new design system into everyday workflows, improving brand governance, streamlining content creation, and empowering teams to apply the brand consistently.

I developed YouLend’s visual identity around three core elements: a bold and recognisable colour system, an approachable visual language, and a flexible design system. Together, they create a brand that feels credible, optimistic and distinctive while remaining consistent across digital, print and physical experiences.

I led the YouLend rebrand in close collaboration with Marketing, Partnership, Product, and executive stakeholders, translating business objectives into a clear and cohesive visual strategy. I partnered with leadership to define the creative direction, worked with Partnerships to strengthen market positioning, collaborated with Product to integrate the new identity across UX and UI, and supported Marketing in delivering consistent assets across digital and print channels.

The result was a distinctive and scalable brand system that strengthened YouLend’s market presence, enabled consistent cross-functional execution, and provided a strong foundation for long-term brand growth.

Case Study

Project management

Research, audit & discovery, brand strategy, creative direction, graphic design

Research & Visual Identity

The first phase focuses on understanding the current brand, assessing its strengths, weaknesses, positioning, and opportunities to establish a clear strategic foundation for the rebrand.

The second phase turns these insights into a defined brand strategy and refreshed identity, creating a clear direction for how the brand should look, feel, and communicate.

Moodboard

I start by gathering visual inspiration and collating it into a moodboard that explores potential directions for the YouLend rebrand. This includes references for typography, colour, imagery, graphic styles, layouts, and other visual elements that could help shape the new identity.

The moodboard helps establish the overall look and feel before moving into the design process. It also gives stakeholders an early view of the creative vision, allowing us to align on a direction and identify which elements can be developed into a cohesive and distinctive brand identity.

Logo

As part of refining YouLend’s visual identity, I identified and corrected inconsistencies in the existing logo artwork. Using Adobe Illustrator, I refined the vector paths, anchor points, curves, spacing, and alignment while preserving the original design. The result is a cleaner, more precise master logo that scales consistently across digital and print applications.

I also developed a clear set of logo guidelines to protect the integrity of the identity. These included rules for clear space, minimum sizing, approved logo colours and variations, background usage, placement, and examples of logo misuse. Together, these guidelines ensure the YouLend logo remains consistent, recognisable, and correctly represented across every brand touchpoint.

Brand Palette

Selecting the right colour palette was one of the most considered parts of YouLend’s rebrand. The goal was to create a distinctive visual identity that reflects both the trust expected from a fintech brand and the energy behind YouLend’s mission to help businesses access capital and grow.

Blue and orange were selected as a complementary pairing that balances trust with energy. Blue communicates reliability, security, and professionalism, while orange adds warmth, optimism, and entrepreneurial spirit. Together, they reflect YouLend’s role as a trusted financial partner that helps businesses access funding and grow with confidence.

Typography

Typography was expanded as part of YouLend’s rebrand to create a consistent and scalable system across both the brand identity and digital design system. Inter was selected as the primary typeface for its clean, modern character and excellent legibility across digital and print applications.

I also considered compatibility with Microsoft applications, where the primary brand typeface may not always be available. Aptos was selected as the alternative font for presentations and other Microsoft products, ensuring the typography remains accessible and visually consistent without requiring users to install additional fonts.

Art direction - Imagery

YouLend’s art direction combines bold, modern visuals with a human and optimistic approach to finance. Clean layouts, vibrant brand colours, expressive typography and product-led graphics create a sense of simplicity and momentum, while authentic imagery of merchants and partners keeps the brand grounded in the businesses we support. Together, these elements position YouLend as an accessible, technology-driven financial partner focused on helping businesses grow.

Art direction - GenAI

I use AI as a supporting tool throughout my design process, including Magnific AI, ChatGPT, Claude, Adobe Firefly and AI capabilities within Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as Figma AI. These tools help me explore ideas, develop concepts, refine content, research visual directions, generate and enhance imagery, and streamline repetitive tasks. AI complements my creative judgement rather than replacing it, allowing me to focus more on art direction, design decisions, and creating work that is relevant to the brand.

Art direction - Iconography

YouLend’s iconography uses a clean, rounded line style designed to communicate ideas quickly and clearly. Simple geometric forms, consistent stroke weights, and soft curves create a friendly and approachable visual language, while the blue and orange brand colours provide distinction and reinforce the wider identity. Icons are kept minimal and functional, making them easy to recognise across digital and print applications.

Results

YouLend has seen positive results from the brand refresh, helping create a stronger and more consistent presence across its digital channels.

‍More Engagement
‍The refreshed identity has created a more engaging and cohesive experience across the website, social media and marketing touchpoints, strengthening YouLend’s brand recognition and digital presence.

‍MQL leads increased
‍Clearer messaging, engaging content and a more confident visual identity have helped attract relevant audiences and encourage more businesses and partners to engage with YouLend’s products and services.

Better reviews
The refreshed brand creates a more approachable and customer-focused experience, reinforcing YouLend’s understanding of the needs of businesses and partners while building greater trust and confidence.

‍Enhanced brand recognition
YouLend’s distinctive blue and orange palette, consistent visual language and bold creative direction have strengthened brand recognition across digital channels and industry events, helping YouLend stand out within the embedded finance and business funding space.