Candidly

Building financial wellness through student debt solutions

Project Information

Our Challenge

Candidly’s approach aims to accelerate a debt free future for the end user through its digital debt management program which can be delivered as an employee benefit or seamlessly integrated into a partner’s native experience as part of their financial wellness program. A Series A company, Candidly was looking to build a new brand to prepare the company for its evolution into a fully integrated platform addressing the full lifecycle of education expenses.

A brand to have candid conversations with

The first step was to change the tone of the conversation around student debt, from loneliness and shame to confidence and transparency. Our goal was to build a brand that reflected both the team’s mission and its culture – empathetic, candid, and with a fresh outlook on an old problem. Candidly provides a sense of hope, turing the notion of the student loan as a threat on its head, instead celebrating the achievements that student loans unlock.

Personable, and enterprise-focused

True to the company’s B2B2C nature, we needed to position Candidly as an enterprise first brand, one that immediately connects with companies that want to support and care for their employees. Through the identity we expressed Candidly’s expertise in student debt and financial wellness through technically advanced solutions, built with the end user in mind.

The main inspiration for the logo as well as the key visual was the notion of building new systems for managing existing assets. The monogram logo containing a stylized letter “C” is complemented with geometric shapes that later became containers for content. By merging them together we created impactful masks for imagery that play on the idea of structure but also create a friendly and “caring” look & feel. We built the identity to support Candidly’s digital-first solution by also providing them with a powerful and scalable digital platform to further extend the reach and impact of their brand.

Our Impact

Once Candidly’s new brand and web were complete, the team announced its name change alongside a strategic acquisition of College Finance Company. The acquisition and rebrand reflected Candidly’s growth and evolution into a fully-configurable financial wellness platform that addresses the full lifecycle of education expenses.