Fortress Financial: Building Trust Through Design
The Challenge: Standing Out in a Crowded Market
Fortress is a financing, loans, and credit company that provides financing and advances short-term and long-term loans and credits to individuals, companies, or associations of individuals. Based in Los Angeles, they operate in a highly competitive market where differentiation is crucial.
When a consumer starts exploring the market to figure out which financing company to go with, you want to be sure that your name stands above the crowd. That’s exactly what we did with Fortress Financial Solutions—creating a brand identity that would help them stand out while building trust with potential clients.
Brand Strategy: Communicating Multiple Attributes
The client wanted a finance logo that was high-tech, abstract/artistic, and also clean/simplistic. They wanted a combination of text and symbol/design that communicated trust, professionalism, robustness, safety, security, and care.
However, communicating all these messages in a single logo icon can be quite difficult, and the cardinal rule of any brand mark should be simplicity. So the talented branding team at Spellbrand distilled all these attributes into a single focal point: care and trust.
Logo Design: Caring Hands
This message was visualized into an icon that depicted an abstract pair of hands cupping. The negative space between the abstract hands is where the customers will be—in a caring and safe pair of hands. This design approach works because:
- Communicates care: The cupping hands suggest protection and nurturing
- Builds trust: The gesture implies safety and security
- Remains simple: Clean, abstract design that’s easy to recognize
- Works across contexts: Versatile enough for all applications
The result is a stunning logo design that was then extended to business card design, letterhead, and envelope design, creating a cohesive brand experience across all touchpoints.
Complete Brand Identity System
The logo design isn’t just used on their website—it’s been extended onto business cards, letterheads, and envelopes. This logo is so simple and clean that it can easily be transferred to work with any type of marketing or business material, ensuring brand consistency wherever Fortress Financial appears.
Results: A Brand That Builds Confidence
The brand identity we created for Fortress Financial successfully communicates trust, professionalism, robustness, safety, security, and care—all essential qualities for a financing company. The caring hands icon creates an emotional connection with potential clients, suggesting that their financial needs will be handled with care and expertise.
Today, Fortress Financial uses this brand identity to differentiate themselves in the competitive Los Angeles financing market, building trust with clients who need short-term or long-term loans and credit solutions.
