Helping Patch to visualise their idea from a blank page to the whole product suite
We were approached to support their new business model with an iOS overhaul, new branding, dashboard and website. Delivering both design and front-end development. We started the whole visual process by exploring branding, design styles, typography, colors and how do they interact with each other.
Patch’s new brand language brings to life the idea of an area - or “patch” - of common ground, creating a harmonious relationship between two sides of the tenancy world; tenants and landlords.
In addition to using the “P” as the main symbol, our intention was to depict the three-way connection between the product, renters and tenants.
This is detailed in the three shape and color elements we are using to construct the logo mark. Purple indicating the mentioned common ground which would be Patch.
When Patch first approached us, they were in the process of pivoting to their new business model of deposit management and insurance. Without an existing product in place, we had a blank canvas for envisioning how the entire app would look and function.
Furthermore, Patch were offering something totally new to the market so our goal from the start was to minimize the learning curve for a broad range of users and simplify the experience.
Fortunately, the team at Patch were open to fast experimentation – working on hunches and intuition to create meaningful and useful solutions.
As the starting point we used the current mobile app and the knowledge we gathered during the research we did on the desktop app. This propelled us to better structure the navigation, overall layout, introduce onboarding screens, and chat modules. We feel this really helps the users to better experience the application with a greater understanding of the product.
The previous app was focused solely on searching for properties. The new app introduces complex features such as managing deposits, chatting with agents and roommates, setting up rent splits, creating rent passes, and mange rent payments.
With all that in mind our goal was to create a cohesive and functional experience that visually ties well with the new branding and direction.
When building a website from scratch, like we did for Patch, information architecture is key to delivering the right message.
Our work focused on three main personas: Tenants, Landlords and Agents. Each persona had their own part of Patch that felt in-keeping with the brand but with an addition of a different color perspective so they could stand as their own products.
During the 8 month partnership our process included researching the competitors, explore various visual directions, explore information architecture and user flows, design various layouts and solutions to better familiarize users with a product that is creating a new industry.
To summarize, we developed and designed Patch’s whole product suite which includes visual language, branding, website, web-app and mobile-app. During the process, the team from Patch was extremely helpful in navigating us through the complex world of government deposit schemes in UK.
Patch launched early 2019, with a slightly changed visual direction. Due to various complexities, our partnerhsip concluded prior to that.
Project Tags
Companies
PATCH
- Retail
Balkan Brothers
- Design