As an in-house designer at AIB, I have had the unique opportunity to fully immerse myself in the company's brand. In my day-to-day work, I am responsible for ensuring that all materials I handle align with AIB's brand guidelines, both visually and tonally. This includes in-branch advertising, press ads, emails, social media campaigns, and digital display ads.
The "We're Moving" campaign serves as a prime example of the importance of consistent branding. In 2021, AIB closed several of its branches, ATMs, and cash handling facilities and needed to communicate this message to customers. I was assigned the task of creating the visual style of the communication that would be displayed both in-branch and in press ads. It was crucial to adhere to AIB's core guidelines, which involved using the graphic device inspired by the curvature of the letter "A" that appears on all of AIB's notices and important documents. By incorporating this design element and the punchy secondary colours from the brand's colour scheme, we were able to emphasise the importance of the message while still making it stand out amidst other communication from the bank.
One of my favourite projects that I worked on with AIB was the "60k Business Loan" campaign for the Business team. The team approached me with the loan proposition and requested that I create all the concept and digital communication for it. The loan was aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, so my concept was to focus on the business owners who put their heart and soul into their enterprise. The main feature of the loan was that it could be applied for and approved entirely online. These two ideas inspired the tagline "loans that start as early as you do" to demonstrate that AIB works around you, not the other way around. As part of the visual identity, I used the secondary colours, including magenta and orange, which, when combined as a gradient, resembled a sunrise. This effect applied to the images themselves and incorporated into the graphic device, which was the same as above, helped to reinforce the message.
Once the stakeholders approved the concept, I created all the digital communication for the campaign, such as social media posts, emails, website graphics, and branch screens. Being able to witness my project transition from an idea to reality is an experience that I will never forget.
The following are examples of my idea proposal, which helped me sell my concept. As part of my process, I create a word association that helps me focus my research and provides an anchor to keep my ideas in check during production. While presenting my process can be intimidating, I believe it demonstrates to the client how I arrived at the finished project and helps them understand my way of thinking and working.
As seen in the two videos below, the final outcome differed slightly from the initial concepts, but having the word map and taglines to refer back to kept the work on track and allowed me to create a campaign that adhered to the legal requirements for advertising a loan while remaining true to the original creative concept.
