Bankrate Editorial Design Rebrand

Bankrate embarked on a major rebranding effort to transform its visual identity. I led a team of designers and photo editors to develop a sophisticated and modern aesthetic that aligned more effectively with the brand's evolving vision. This involved moving away from the long-standing editorial collage style, which relied heavily on royal blue shades, visually busy compositions, and repetitive elements, to create a refreshed, cohesive, and impactful design language.

Leading this effort, I brought two teams together in a design sprint tackled in four phases. To kick off the project, I led an inspiration round, where we pulled visual inspiration from across the web. This was a helpful exercise in studying visual trends. We amassed over two hundred different screenshots and had a voting session followed by the first stage of design where we used the inspiration as a jumping off point to explore new directions.

In the ideation phase we explored a variety of different directions. I began by having the designers do some color exploration, testing what a selection of images could look like with simple filters or color overlays.

During our sprint, we explored three newly rebranded color palettes, experimenting with each to test how each color would appearance on-site in editorial designs, while prioritizing accessibility.

I guided the team in exploring composition, textures, patterns, and new brand elements, many created in-house with brush tools. After the brand color palette was approved, I finalized textural elements to achieve greater visual consistency. This image highlights the textures, shapes, and patterns we considered, along with our voting process, which I led to encourage team members to advocate for their work. I incorporated their feedback into my final approvals.

Here are some examples of photo illustrations created by me and other members of my team in the final rebranded editorial design style.

For comparison here is the old Bankrate editorial design style

Roles:
Art Direction, Graphic Design, Project Management

Credits:

Creative Director: Stephen Oster
Graphic Design: Isaiah Davis, Austin Courrege, Hunter Newton, Tiffany Herring, Kirsten Parker
UI/UX Design: Ricky Carlton