Celebrating The Extraordinary Everyday

Sygnia is a South African investment management company on a mission to make saving and investing simple, affordable and accessible to all.

We worked with Sygnia and brand design studio Hallo Basis, to create a distinctive hand-drawn character system, designed to bring warmth, personality and a lighter perspective to their new identity.

Making Investing Feel Human

The project began as an illustration brief, with the ambition to move away from conventional financial services imagery and celebrate the people behind the numbers — their lives, relationships and experiences.

South Africa's people, culture and everyday life were central to our thinking:

How can we make investing feel more human?
By reflecting the moments that investing ultimately helps support.

We explored familiar situations, local wildlife and shared experiences, from family gatherings and braais to playful encounters with baboons, bringing them to life through expressive characters and gentle humour – and reflecting the many different stages of life.

As they would sit alongside both financial content and social media, the challenge was finding the right balance of playfulness and believability. It was important that the library of characters supported all uses.

The result is a distinctive world of over 40 characters that work individually or together, with room to accommodate new stories and applications as Sygnia's needs evolve.

From Characters To A Broader Visual Language

The character development didn't stop at the original illustrations. As the library expanded, we continued working with Sygnia to develop short animations that could support individual product campaigns while building brand recognition over time.

It's become an integral visual language that bridges Sygnia's financial and social content. Instead of starting each campaign with a new creative direction, Sygnia can build on familiar characters that carry recognition from one message to the next.

Designed to work across formats, audiences and contexts, each new animation or illustration serves an immediate purpose while strengthening the wider character world.

Functional Icons With Personality

We extended the same thinking when building a suite of custom icons for Sygnia's website, with the belief that functionality doesn't have to come at the expense of personality. Drawing on the ingredients that shaped the wider visual world - South African people, culture and landscapes, we created distinctive icons that are simple yet expressive.

Each serves a clear function, including those designed for individual investment products. It's another valuable layer that strengthens the wider system, showing how a shared creative narrative can carry through from character-led stories to the smallest details.