Trove — Brand & Marketing Design
- Industry
- Fintech | SaaS
- Role
- Brand Designer
- Collaboration
- Marketing Team
- Scope
- Social, Campaigns, Ads, In-App, Email, Print.
01. PROJECT CONTEXT
A mobile investing app built for global markets.
Trove is a mobile investing app that gives people access to global stocks with as little as $10, alongside Dollar portfolios, interest-earning products and a USD card. With new features, product launches and ongoing updates came different communication needs. From social media and product campaigns to in-app creatives, email, print and ads, the work spanned multiple touchpoints, developed in close collaboration with the marketing team while maintaining a consistent and recognisable brand identity.
02. THE CHALLENGE
Making investing a conversation for a younger generation.
Investing had long been seen as something for parents and older generations, with information buried in dense numbers and jargon that made it feel closed off and dull. Trove set out to change that: to make investing easy to understand, fun to engage with and accessible to a younger audience. The creative carried that goal at its core, making a complicated subject feel approachable while keeping the brand recognisable at every touchpoint.
03. APPROACH
Designing for people who are careful with money.
People take their money personally, so a mobile investment brand needs to feel trustworthy and intentional, and still be welcoming to someone opening an investing app for the first time. The designs also needed to work across different touchpoints while allowing room for creative flexibility within the existing brand guidelines. Given the target demographic, that flexibility was especially important. Money is already a serious subject, but that doesn't mean the visuals have to feel dull or overly corporate. So the goal was to maintain a balance between credibility and visual appeal. Based on this premise, the creatives were built around three core pillars:
Credible
Real product screens and clean, considered layouts showed people exactly what to expect from the app, rather than relying on abstract promises.
Clear
Familiar visual metaphors helped make unfamiliar investing concepts easier to understand. Using a cake slice to explain fractional shares, making the idea easier to grasp even before reading the details.
Recognizeable
Consistent use of typography, colour and recurring graphic elements helped establish a familiar visual identity.
04. LAUNCHES AND UPDATES
As Trove evolved, so did the way we presented it.
From the launch of Trove 2.0 to updates like the new explore page, extended-hours trading, Earn by Trove and the return of the USD virtual card, there was always something new to share. Each release got its own set of creatives and were built around the app screens so people could see exactly what had changed. The range ran from the Trove 2.0 launch to the Explore page, extended hours trading and the return of the USD virtual card.
05. IN-APP BANNERS
Promoting Trove’s products inside the app.
Placed inside the app, these minimalist banners point existing users to products they may not have found yet: cards, recurring savings, securities lending and stock gifting. Each one carries a short line, an illustration and a single call to action, so it can be read at a glance. When the social community platform for trove was launched called Trove Social, in app banners were also built to categorize different types of community members according to their activities within the app - Famous Investors, Rising Stars, Aggressive Investors, Conservative Investors, Active Commenters, Top performers.
06. CAMPAIGNS
A holiday campaign built on referrals and giveaways.
“The More the Merrier” was an end-of-year Christmas referral campaign built around a simple idea: good things are better when you bring your friends along. With Christmas being a time when people are more open to giving, sharing and receiving gifts, the campaign tapped into that festive spirit to encourage existing Trove users to invite their friends onto the app. Giveaways, cash prizes and referral rewards made the invitation more exciting, giving people something to look forward to while sharing Trove with others.
07. EDUCATION
Explaining stocks to people who have never owned one.
Not everyone coming to Trove had the same understanding of investing. Some were already familiar with certain concepts but didn't fully understand how they worked, while others were encountering them for the first time. So a big part of the social media content focused on education, using carousels and single posts to break down investing terms and make them easier to understand.
08. MARKET NEWS
Market news and weekly recaps.
Beyond helping people understand investing, Trove's social media also kept them informed about what was happening in the markets. From the week's top-performing stocks to major company milestones and developments in the banking sector, there was always something worth talking about. Some of these updates became recurring series, with recognisable elements like the podium for weekly top gainers. But the visuals weren't simply recycled from one post to the next. Each update brought its own information and context, which influenced how it was presented, keeping the content familiar without making it feel repetitive.
09. EMAIL & NEWSLETTER
Newsletters with Personality.
Trove's weekly newsletter, “Tomi from Trove,” had built a loyal following with its witty, humorous and refreshingly simple way of talking about finance and investing. That personality was a big part of its appeal, and the visuals needed to reflect it too.
Rather than using a generic header that simply announced another newsletter, each edition had its own creative idea, often playing with familiar expressions, everyday objects and a bit of humour. The goal was to make the headers feel just as interesting as the writing, giving readers something to smile about before they even got into the newsletter.
10. OUTCOME
Investing became easier to notice, understand and talk about.
For many people, social media was their first introduction to Trove. And when you're talking to people about their money, that first impression matters. The brand needed to feel trustworthy without being intimidating, and interesting enough to make someone stop scrolling.
The earlier feed relied heavily on dark backgrounds, dense layouts and a fairly rigid visual style. The newer direction brought in softer colours, clearer typography, more breathing room and a lot more personality. The result was a feed that felt more welcoming, easier to follow and much more inviting to explore.
SOCIAL FEED (BEFORE)
SOCIAL FEED (AFTER)
- +122%
- Social following 5500 - 12,200
- 500k+
- Play Store downloads
- 4.3★
- Play Store ratings across 8000 reviews
*Brand growth reflects multiple factors, beyond design alone.
