A bright, articulated identity is at the heart of Arival Bank. But why? The main reason is that Arival as a business is more than just a bank, it’s a statement. So it only makes sense to translate that statement from the language of the business model to a visual narrative.
Identity concept.
Arival’s visual language is based on a partially retro-futuristic, bright holo/glass imagery. Arival’s brand character is Rocky the Rocket — an anthropomorphic android built for space exploration. So why space? Why retro-futurism? Why android? I mean, it’s not that we’re an intergalactic enterprise for space mining investments, right? It’s because the central narrative for mid-century sci-fi is hope and confidence in humankind’s capability to surpass its limits and go beyond what’s considered possible. Optimism that a generation of brave explorers, adventurous scientists, and geeks will shape the future and make the world a better place to live. And Arival still believes that. The only difference is that modern explorers don’t belong to fictional spaceships — they’re entrepreneurs. Abnormal entrepreneurs. And that’s who we are serving.
Rocky the Rocket’s android identity is also intentional — their robotic nature leaves no room for speculation on what divides us as species. It has no skin color, no gender, no race. It’s the embodiment of what brings us together — intellect striving for new discoveries.
Design philosophy.
But behind the imagery, there’s the system, which brings our app to life. And at its heart, there’s also a well-thought effort. Even though our mascot is an android, Arival is built for humans. And what humans need is meaningful, sincere interaction. That’s why our focus is on making Arival 90% utilitarian and functional and 10% beautiful and fun. Each page is designed with attention to what our customers actually need to see and what can be minimized, automated, skipped, or reduced.
As paradoxical as it sounds, one of the most important jobs is done with a backspace. Less interaction is a more meaningful one because nobody needs to click through 15 screens to pay an invoice. And only after we’re sure that we’ve left everything unnecessary behind the brackets, it’s time to enhance it with bright visuals, micro-animations, and fun copywriting. We cut, we add, and we make it standardized. Easy as that.
Afterthought
Many consider banking and services one of the most boring possible things to design. Every designer dreams of working for fashion brands, phone companies, and ultra-high-tech visionaries. But the truth is that it was always about how you design, what you believe, and what you want to improve as a person. In Arival, we believe that we’re destined to help entrepreneurs all across the world to bring their visions to life, and there’s nothing boring about that.
Written by: Stan S. Zubov, Design Director at Arival Bank
