Don’t you be coming for my blue circle buddy @tjvr !
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That’s the one - Tim - so quite different now:
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@Peter_G thanks for your great questions 
I’ve managed to rope in @vuokko to help me out, since the refresh journey started a while before I joined 
When did you start thinking about this?
We first started thinking about this in late 2019/ early 2020 and wrote a brief… but then the pandemic happened and we had to focus our efforts elsewhere. Spring 2022 we were finally well placed to move forward!
What problem were you initially trying to solve?
Our brand creative hadn’t meaningfully evolved since the early days of Monzo and we felt that we just didn’t have enough creative that reflected who we are. We did a creative audit and laying everything out onto one canvas really highlighted the fact: we had our hot coral but otherwise it was a lot of blues and greys, and we knew we’d need to breathe new life into the creative.
I’d be fascinated to see early prototypes or the road not travelled. Could you share any waypoints on the journey?
We had a few different creative directions shared with us at at the start of exploration, that we didn’t go with, but maybe I’ll share those another time with a follow up post.
Here’s some M icon explorations using different colour combinations that we didn’t go for:
Did you start with any preconceptions or a particular scope? For example, did you know you wanted to keep the existing logo and wordmark? Or did that come as part of the process?
We knew we wanted to keep the wordmark. It’s on our iconic cards and still works for us. We did explore quite a few different versions of the M icon, including dropping it altogether - but in the end we knew we had to keep it considering we’re an app with lots of needs for a small visual symbol representing us. Just the wordmark wouldn’t do.
How did this work internationally? Did you focus on the UK or did you test the US and other markets?
We looked at the market internationally to create something that’s globally distinctive. We also made sure that all illustrations would work internationally, not just in the UK: the new set of illustrations doesn’t have any £ signs, text, or UK-only references.
Hope that adds a little more context for the Refresh journey we’ve been on so far @Peter_G 
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This is amazing. Thank you!
(Also 
LOVE the white on coral logo)
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That’d be amazing!
Have you seen Mozilla’s open design site from their rebrand a few years ago? They blogged the whole process, involved community and then published a bit of a retro on the road not travelled. Lots of interesting stuff in there!
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Love love love the white on hot coral!
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Just to say I really like all of those, especially the first. Any chance you can just, y’know, slide them into folks options for iOS. I guess it goes against the whole consistent brand thing but it would be cool
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The white on hot coral reminds me of this:
And this, which would make a wonderful Plus card:
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Yes, yes it would. Love it
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Ugh no ta. Same as every other corporate bank card.
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What on Earth? Maybe you have to be in that industry but it feels like you’re torturing that word. 
Eh? It’s the standard word. It’s used all the time.
I have never seen it used in that way. As I say, perhaps it’s an industry thing.
Oh wow that first icon 
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We use ‘creative’ in place of saying ‘graphic or brand design assets’. Sorry if that’s unclear, it’s an industry way of speaking about design work.
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Another question from me (sorry).
Was the design of the app specifically in scope for this work or was it focused on brand and marketing collateral?
There’s a reference in the blog to an “Exaggerated UI” but everything else seems to be marketing.
I suppose I’m wondering how tightly this might translate to the look and feel of the app (as opposed to the functional design, if that difference makes sense).
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Thank you @Peter_G you’re asking all the questions I can’t be bothered to.
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The refresh is planned as a separate phase (or phases) for the app. We’re looking at how Monzo Sans and Oldschool Grotesk translate to the app experience. Same with colour and our new illustrations. Also the challenge of how the refresh intersects with app evolution. This all takes a little more time, care and engineering to work out, so may not appear all at once.
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Yeah, this icon is substantially better than any of the others!
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