BDCB: Smart Money Habits Booklet

January 2022

Corporate

The Road to Financial Literacy

The question was posed to AICREATIVV by the Brunei Darussalam Central Bank (BDCB), in an effort to raise awareness on financial literacy.

BDCB is more than just a large, corporate entity responsible for core financial operations and monetary policies in Brunei. It is also made up of people who see the importance of being smart with one’s money, and using the appropriate financial knowledge and skillset to manage one’s finance in the most beneficial way.

Despite the growing importance of becoming financially literate, its complexity and extensiveness become a daunting challenge for anyone who tries to approach it head-on. Even more challenging, perhaps, is educating people on financial literacy without scaring them within the first five minutes!

With BDCB’s goals in mind, AICREATIVV collaborated with the Financial Literacy team to deliver an informative 30-page booklet, using illustrations and typographic hierarchy to carry and relay information in a way that was easily digestible, yet visually appealing.

“How can we raise awareness about serious topics to the public in a not-so-serious way?”

Simplifying Complexity Through Design

We worked with BDCB to create a product that will raise awareness and educate the public on smart money habits. It took many drafts, revisions and an open channel for constant progress updates and constructive feedback before we landed on the perfect balance between informative and enjoyable.

In order to determine the design direction, we created a Stylescape - a necessary step in the Strategy phase before moving on to the Design Phase - that perfectly captures the look and feel of the booklet: everything from the font to the design style was carefully chosen to establish trustworthiness and simplicity, while the color palette was pulled from BDCB’s brand identity.

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Making Corporate Fun Again

With a topic as vast and complex as financial literacy, it was crucial that the most important information do not get lost in the pages. We explored the concept of typographic hierarchy in order to achieve this: by altering the size, weight, color, or composition of information, readers’ initial attention could be directed towards information that is most important. Additionally, we used subheadings or bulletpoints to allow readers to look for information specifically relevant to their interests.

The use of illustrations was also a crucial decision that added to the overall aim of the booklet. By sticking to a flat and simple illustration style, their purpose was two-fold: to soften the topic of financial literacy into something more approachable to the public, and to serve as a visual aid for information so that they are more digestible and easier to understand.

The Formula for Financial Growth

By following a formula that achieves an approachable and engaging design style, yet delivers information in a professional tone, we were able to create something that matched BDCB’s vision, and delivered the goals they had in place. The value of this formula extends beyond the Smart Money Habits booklet, as it can be incorporated into their social media content and print collaterals. Our collaboration with BDCB not only successfully produced an informative booklet to be mass printed and shared to thousands, but in the long run, also shapes BDCB to be a financial service that is reliable and informative for the financial growth of the general public.