The brief

Zeno is a concept design for a digital banking app. Debit cards, savings buckets, instant transfers, bill pay. The defining design choice was branding that felt institution-grade rather than founder-led, paired with product UX that felt as fast as a modern app should. We designed the brand and the iOS/Android app across twelve weeks of internal exploration.

What we solved

Digital banks have converged on a similar visual language: cheerful colors, friendly mascots, illustrations of confused-looking businesspeople. The result is that no neobank feels like an actual bank. Zeno had to feel substantively serious without sliding into legacy-bank territory, while still keeping the modern UX speed users expect from new banking products.

How we got there

We designed the brand around editorial typography, confident neutrals, and motion that feels considered rather than playful. The home screen surfaces three things: balance, recent activity, and savings progress. Savings buckets are first-class objects, not buried in a settings menu. Plaid handles linked-account flows. The app feels closer to a Bloomberg terminal in tone than a Cash App.

What we shipped

The Zeno concept lands on four primary surfaces: home (the daily glance), buckets (savings goals), transfer (send and pay), and account (settings and statements). Each surface is opinionated about what the user sees first. Notifications are quiet by default. Statement design is treated like an editorial feature.

What changed for the client

Zeno was published as an internal portfolio piece and informed a paid client engagement in the digital banking space. The concept's restrained approach to fintech branding became a reference for our subsequent banking and finance work.