Arbor Financial Credit Union
Surprisingly, free mortgage for life is not a benefit of working for a credit union. Who knew?
In the beginning of 2018, I was hired to be the new Graphic Designer for Arbor Financial Credit Union in Kalamazoo, MI. I was really excited to be hired into my first full time role and to see what opportunities lied ahead for me. I had never worked for a company as the sole graphic designer before, so I knew there was going to be some interesting challenges ahead.
The job ended up teaching me a lot that I didn't know about the financial industry. I learned for the first time how important compliance and disclaimers were when selling a product (and the interesting design challenges that come with working with disclaimer). I got my first experience communicating with other companies and business vendors that offered us services, and what to do if communication ever fell apart. There was so much I took away from this job, but I would say the best lesson this job taught me was that there's so much more to being a good graphic designer than just being good at the design part.
A new Brand
A folder design I came up with for the credit union to hand out to new members. This project was one of the first projects I was given and ultimately set the tone for how we wanted to move forward with the brand.
About two years prior, Arbor had actually rebranded itself from Educational Community Credit Union to Arbor Financial Credit Union. The company was trying to shed the misconception that it was a credit union for educators only and wanted to portray a more inclusive image, while also developing a brand that was representative of its core values.
When I first joined, Arbor had utilized its new brand quite a bit, but was still looking to develop it further and find it's message. While some components of the brand were set in stone, there was still plenty of room for growth and experimentation. From a designer standpoint, that's always an exciting place to be. They wanted to portray themselves as a fun and exciting credit union, while also maintaining a professional look and feel to their products and materials.
I saw this as an exciting opportunity to experiment a little bit and see what I could come up with that could add some creative flare to the brand while keeping it relatively within the brand standards they had already come up with.
I was surprised to find that the number 1 question I've been asked the most was, "So as far as graphic design goes, what kind of work does a credit union even need?"
Well the short answer is, a lot! You'd be surprised if you knew just how many projects and marketing campaigns are implemented in just one month at your very own local credit union.
Campaigns and Initiatives
Long answer: For any given campaign or promotion, first you need to develop the creative concept behind it, which can take anywhere from 1-3 days. Then you need to roll that out across all of the marketing materials needed for that promotion, which usually consists of posters of many different dimensions, handouts, drive through banners, digital billboards, digital advertisements, website assets, and flyers. And that's just focusing on the marketing campaigns.
A digital ad I created for our Spring Car and Auto Loan special.
A promotional quarter page ad that appeared in the Community Quarterly. The Volt Account was Arbor's special checking account geared towards high school and college students aimed at teaching them financial literacy, and it has its own unique brand.
Branding logo, & cover I created for IMPACT Training, a training program that launched in April of 2018 dedicated to training our employees to meet world class standards.
This is a display photo I took after yours truly changed all of the drive-thru banners to promote Arbor's HELOC Special, which is a great way to use your current home's equity towards the purchase of your next home and help cut closing costs.
A take one handout promoting our Refer a friend promotion. Members were encouraged to bring them in with their information on the backside to receive cash incentive.
An 8.5 X 11 Handout promoting Arbor's Annual Scholarship Program. These handouts went to all the local school districts of west Michigan.
A digital ad I created promoting Arbor's Momentum Checking Account.
Creative Marketing Design
It's not uncommon for people from other departments to need creative for their projects as well. Sometimes mortgage originators need a flyer designed to promote a special mortgage they offer, or someone from HR needs a presentation branded and a powerpoint designed, or someone down the hall needs a logo created for a new training program that's about to start. Those are all regular occurrences and they all need special attention just like the campaigns.
An informational flyer I created for the mortgage department detailing the different types of mortgages and services Arbor offers.
A certificate created for the mortgage department based around Arbor's On Time Guarantee, a work initiative of the mortgage department to help them close mortgages and move people into their homes more quickly and efficiently.
The cover for the pocket calendar that will be given to members for the upcoming 2019 calendar year.
A snapchat filter for the annual Stories With Santa event that happens every Christmas. Another fun part of the job was getting to work and participate in events like this.
Annual Events
On top of that there are annual events that happen every year such as community events, annual reports, and Staff Enrichment Days that require a great amount of collaboration between departments. There are also grand openings that require a lot of marketing materials to roll out quickly and on time. Not to mention the small every day tasks that come along with the job like organizing files and project logs, and making sure to fix any errors that have been brought to your attention.
A snapchat filter I created for one of our Staff Enrichment Days. Twice a year, Arbor puts on a company event to help educate, empower, and communicate with its employees on a variety of topics.
An 8.5 X 11 printed copy of the Annual Report for the 2017 year. The Annual Report takes place every year and goes over the events and earnings from the last calendar year. Everyone, from the CEO to the Board of Directors to members, are invited to attend this annual event.
A printed billboard I created to promote one of the new branches that opened in Otsego in 2018.
So yea, they definitely kept me busy, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I loved working with an established brand and seeing my work out in the community regularly.
ryansartori.us
[email protected] | (734) 780 - 4795 | Kalamazoo, MI
Design by Ryan Sartorius, circa 2022. All rights reserved.