Branding and web design for financial services

A new motto: invest, design and grow

When we receive a financial services web design brief it’s invariably with a request for distinctiveness. A style that can neatly be described by Sir Paul Smith’s approach to fashion: ‘classic – with a twist’.

Working together, first we listen. You have an innate sense of what suits the firm best and require us, your design agency, to provide creative branding capturing your personality and professional perspective. This is fundamental to our work.

It’s an understanding of a relevant form and style – as well as an ability to engage with the dynamic personalities driving your enterprise forward – that forms the basis of our best practice design work for London’s busy finance industry.

We are currently acting for:
– private family offices
– corporate finance firms
– real estate investment businesses
– angel investors
– venture capital firms

So, does your branding and website need a refresh?
Please call us on 020 7351 4083 or email direct

And remember, it’s us doing the hard work – the process will be straightforward for you and your team.

financial services branding and web design

Oxford Investment Consultants – an example of best practice financial services branding and website design

“Oxford Investment Consultants have thoroughly enjoyed the ongoing relationship they have built with Richard and his team.

“With requirements covering branding, print and digital marketing materials, and a website with complex functionality and regulatory requirements, the skill of Richard’s team to offer clarity in interpreting our challenging and continually evolving requirements into seamless, user-friendly and attractive media is exemplary.

“Further, the sensational service and emphasis on relationship building is a real credit to the culture Richard has developed in the firm.”

FREDDIE HAMILTON, OXFORD INVESTMENT CONSULTANTS

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financial services website design

Investor login area for Oxford Investment Consultants

A city livery

Legendary businesses in the City of London such as Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg and Barclays as well as countless Hedge Funds, Investment Management companies and Accountancy and Legal firms tend to brief us to an elegant, minimal design style. We’ve christened this a ‘corporate creative’ approach – and it’s one we’ve made our hallmark.

We believe the best way of managing a sound response to such a brand or web design brief is to propose a creative, modern approach that stands out – so clients remember you for all the right reasons. While the work we do for you will be right for your brand, equally no client likes to be bored.

A new kind of city livery: one that deploys this clean approach and is also forward-looking and ideally long-lasting.

financial services website design

Branding and web design for Horizon Private Wealth

It’s been an absolute pleasure working with Richard and his team from the moment we started. Richard has been guiding us through our company’s name change and rebranding and he has created something magnificent.

Together we developed a thoughtful brand that is true to our values and mission and he has approached this project with a great deal of professionalism and I appreciate his personal touch and effort in this.

They felt like a part of our team and it was great to see how well they understood our business and goals. I liked their style. creativity and the strive for perfection is second to none. We were never short of obstacles but Richard never stopped reacting and adjusting to the changes.

I can’t say enough good things about Richard and his team — they were fantastic, and I’m so glad we found them.

STINA LILL-ROBERTS, MARKETING MANAGER

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A sound new business strategy

Our experience again and again is that many Financial, Legal and Accountancy firms tend to dismiss the influence their website can have – an opinion we think could be worth reconsidering.

This negative view towards websites is often formed because key marketing personnel are so flat out focussing on the management of vital existing clients that new opportunities can often be passed by.

But the influence a website can have is worth looking at… and here’s why.

  • Firstly, the sheer number of your potential clients who, at a loss to know who to hire to assist them, just resort to a straightforward Google search, is staggering. Without a persuasive web presence, never mind one that has plenty of relevant content about key services and thus ‘search engine-friendly’, these clients can evaporate.
  • Secondly, that site needs to be kept fresh, both from a design and content perspective. This is the tough one for a time-poor marketing team. Keeping content updated (via News posts, or a regular cycle created by the turnover of financial reporting) won’t just appeal to the ‘random’ Google searcher. It will persuade an even more vital audience: personal referrals.

If when they arrive at the website and it’s a few months (or, worst case scenario, and not at all unusual: years out of date) they invariably just move on.

Our advice: work on the design and content on an ongoing basis with the same energy as you apply when looking after existing financial services or legal clients. We assist many of our clients with this process and managing the content so it is eye-catching, pithy and relevant.

Web design for Tellworth Investments – featuring details of each of their funds

Tellworth Investments – our brand design applied to their factsheet downloads

Good financial services web design infers trust

It’s often assumed that your regular clients will never visit your website – why would they? they already know us, goes the logic – but we believe this is not a safe assumption.

Simple instances like using the site to find your office via the map on your Contact page, or hunting for your number quickly are incredibly common. Then, when the site appears and… it’s that same one they remember from five years ago, they could be mistaken for thinking that your business had begun to let things slide.

Logic follows: if the site has been neglected, what else is?

When a Financial Services firm’s website is in tune with all the other design elements in its ‘world’ and feels like a natural continuation from the design of letterheads or the signage at reception, that website can be as logical a business tool as a business card.

We consider consistent branding as essential a part of the business process as the handshake at a meeting. With all these elements not merely in tune but in harmony, your website can deliver something incredibly important: trust.

financial services website design
financial services website design

Alpha Insurance Analysts – an example of best practice financial services website design

Build something different: build client relationships

Many Financial Services firms today are after an online presence that is a little more diverse and interactive than what has gone before.

That’s not to say that we’re talking about a radical re-appraisal of their business online, or that the site is going to be avant-garde in design terms, but rather that it harnesses modern technology in a way that services their clients better.

The kind of services that firms like financial analysts or hedge funds could offer include:

  • Client login areas allowing for the download of financial records or the reskinning of third party portal apps;
  • The inclusion of Investor Relations areas, as your business goes public and has to comply with stock market regulations;
  • Pop-up ‘agree / decline’ Terms and Conditions panels on the homepage to comply with FCA regulations or compliance requests;
  • Plus, all our websites are designed and built to be mobile-first – and work on tablets, laptops and of course the wide-screen monitors used in all financial services businesses today.

Our branding for Alpha Insurance Analysts – with custom signage at their offices on Fenchurch Street

Time for a design update?

We’d love to help you realise your business ambitions with strong branding design, including –

  • a distinctive business identity
  • a modern website showcasing your business to the world
  • a convincing, clear slide deck to present to investors and clients
  • that all-important business card

Give us a call on 020 7351 4083 or email direct