New Betterment Logo Evokes A Path
Trollbäck+Company has delivered a new brand identity for Betterment, a pioneer in digital wealth management that offers financial advice, automated investing tools, retirement solutions, and cash management via web and app services. The new Betterment brand builds on the accessibility and inclusivity that is intrinsic to Betterment’s financial services. Bo Bishop, Executive Director, Creative Strategy at Trollbäck+ Company explains, “The new brand we created in collaboration with Betterment starts with a newly articulated purpose statement: Making People’s Lives Better. Making people’s lives better is about avoiding tropes of easy wealth or overnight success. It’s clear-eyed, empowering access to the resources and innovations needed to thrive – today and tomorrow.”
The project features a new visual identity that seeks to capture the brand’s legacy while pushing it forward for the better. Leading the visual side of the rebrand is a new logo, a symbol that feels like a sunrise, suggesting the illuminating nature of the client’s offerings. The base of the shape invites an active first-person perspective of a path, implying forward motion. The metaphor doubles as an arrow, pointing upwards, signifying growth.
According to Nadia Husain, Design Director at Trollbäck+Company, “We created a symbol that evokes a path and progress that feels optimistic and functions as more than just a static logo – it’s the foundation for an entire visual identity system. Its simplicity allows it to be an anchor, and gives so much opportunity for purposeful activation. In marketing it stands out from the landscape; it’s instantly recognizable. And as a product feature, as a button on your phone, it’s a joy to look at, to tap, to engage with.” Paired with the symbol is an updated word mark that’s lighter and easier to read in smaller, digital spaces.
The visual identity keeps Betterment’s legacy blue color and retains the brand’s original font, but updates how those elements are used; a new, warmer color palette complements the notion of a journey. “We wanted the overall palette to feel like the prospect of a new day – warm, refreshing, vibrant, full of possibility,” says Husain. An innovation within the visual brand is the inclusion of illustrations. A wide range of new illustrative assets were created in collaboration between Trollbäck+Company and Betterment’s internal design team, to be used across touchpoints to emphasize the brand’s positioning.
