First Republic Bank
Date
2022
Services
Creative Direction, Brand Strategy
Poor First Republic - one of my favorite clients. They sadly no longer exist because of some unexpected market changes and management mistakes.
But once upon a time, First Republic was THE elite bank for the very wealthy in Silicon Valley. FRB wanted to create fellowship to support young women working in STEM fields. What made the Erkan Fellowship different from most others was the people. Each woman was paired up with a long term mentor who would work directly with them, sharing advice and connections.
FRB wanted to understand how to present this idea to the world. They already had a very well defined brand - visually and in people’s minds.
I knew that a fellowship for high school women should look exciting - and that banks are not usually considered exciting, especially visually. .
We started with the First Republic Bank colors as a base. From there we created a visual language based on core STEM disciplines. Everything we designed was made to on a phone screen - the place where young people are spending time. Geometry, physics and engineering were all visually represented in a way that made them feel visually connected to the FRB core brand.
Our internal test for if we got it right? “Would a high school girl wear this on a t-shirt?”.
Answer? Yes.
— Image title
