Using all of the financial technology involved in investing today can seem overwhelming and risky. Robinhood is a financial platform that democratizes dealing with exchange-traded funds, electronic stock trading, and cryptocurrency and which does not charge interest on transactions. Its original logo included a stylized feather, which represented the feather that the infamous character Robin Hood, who invented the simple proposition of stealing from the rich to give to the poor, wore in his hat. This irreverent reference inspired design firm Porto Rocha to take the analogy further.
The client’s goal is to make investing available and understandable to everyone. The designers embraced the focus on simplicity. They streamlined the feather in order to draw attention to the upward arrow—another Robin Hood reference—inside of it. They also developed a new sans serif font, Robinhood Phonic, that gave the wordmark a unique and friendly personality that the previous design did not possess.
The color palette was also kept simple: a streamlined palette of black, white, and “mature neutrals” combined with pops of Robin Neon, an electric yellow-green.
From the Porta Rocha website: “Our solution is rooted in a simple insight: when it comes to standing out in a sea of fintech sameness, less is more.”
