Ragged Edge rebrands Tilt with a grounded, human-first approach to tackling financial issues

“From the very start it was clear this was no surface-level exercise,” says Matt Smith, executive creative director of global branding studio Ragged Edge. “The name, the strategy, even the product range were evolving. This was an inflection point for the business, an ambitious moment to define its difference, so the process had to be both thorough and collaborative.” Ragged Edge’s newest project has been creating the visual identity for a small loans business called Tilt, formerly known as Empower. Crucially, the visual identity needed to reflect Tilt’s mission to be a genuine force of good in people’s lives – people who are often overlooked by the credit system. This meant creating tangible strains of empathy and honesty through the design so that people approaching Tilt in a time of need could feel that trust up front.

That led Ragged Edge to the slogan ‘good for it’, communicating a belief in people and a comfort with imperfection. “We carried that humanity into every detail, from the cursive logo and type to the raw, honest photography and illustration,” says Matt. In the photography side of Tilt’s overhauled image, Ragged Edge worked with Charlie McKay, to ensure sitters were captured with respect – in work environments or with family. It aims to make the hard-working people who reach out for financial help feel acknowledged and validated.

Tilt’s rebrand incorporates stressful financial scenarios with calming digital paintings by illustrator Pearl Chuaynarong, offering a balm to moments that can be worrying – but they can be helped and managed; one painting shows a flat tire while another depicts the keys of a car being given over to someone as a gift. In both moments of loss and gain, there is always the creeping issue of who is out of pocket – but Tilt is reassuring and Ragged Edge’s good-natured approach goes a long way.

“In the US, you need a credit score to do almost anything,” says Matt. “Yet those with difficult or untraditional histories are shut out. Tilt offers a way in: short term credit without predatory interest, tools to bridge gaps in tough months, and most importantly products that report and help build a score.” It was vital that Ragged Edge avoided fintech cliches – the identity had to stand out in a crowded industry – and importantly, there needed to be the utmost clarity when it came to a financial tool. Tilt’s rebrand is far from the clinical and dense economical language that a lot of other companies may employ – this is accessible and serves to do good. With a positive yellow colour scheme, a sleek logo that looks like cursive written in an industrial marker pen and bold, simple typographic works that centre the importance of the individual, Ragged Edge creates a partnership that feels down to earth.

With the rebrand already showing positive results and a 70 per cent higher click-through rate, Matt believes two things have been key to the success. “First of all, the new brand speaks to working people with an authenticity and empathy that is extremely rare in the space. And secondly, it’s highly distinctive, so those people are more likely to notice and remember Tilt. That combination of relevance and distinctiveness is a powerful one.” With a literally tilted logo and a mission to tilt the odds in what can feel like a rigged system, Ragged Edge’s retransformation is proof that you can take a hot subject like loans companies, redesign it from scratch and immediately begin helping people.