Scope

Strategy, visual identity, design systems, brand book. Role as Designer, for BUX 2022-2023

Scenario

BUX is Europe's fastest-growing neobroker. Since 2014, the Amsterdam fintech has been teaching new generations a simple lesson: investing isn't as hard as they were told. Almost a decade in, that lesson was being taught across 8 European countries. In 2023, BUX wasn't trying to disrupt the market anymore: it was setting up to lead it - and leadership starts with a foundation strong enough to scale. Nine years of fast growth had pulled the identity in directions of its own, into a brand that no longer read as one: the brand wasn't ready to scale.

Approach

The brand book wasn't a refresh, but the foundation BUX didn't have. We started with a full audit, examining every surface BUX showed up on across multiple markets, and the drift was specific: typography varied surface to surface, colours had loosened and the brand assets had stopped being recognisable. Against that, we built the first BUX brand book - covering positioning, tone of voice, key messages and visual identity. One source of truth, digital and print. We delivered a tightened system: a sharpened colour palette, a smaller set of typographic weights and sizes, and illustrations placed under rules of their own - kept in context, used the right way. A more mature BUX, a brand that re-earned its real trust. Not just a book - but the maturity and consistency BUX needed to scale.

Impact

The brand book gave BUX what nine years of growth hadn't: one version of itself. Every market, every surface, every asset now speaks from the same source of truth - a system tight enough to move at the speed of the business instead of trailing behind it.

Collaborations: Kamiel Van Eeuwijk (creative team lead), Julian Burford (brand illustrator)