Nearly half the world’s population is unable to participate in the formal financial sector. Tala is a global technology company that is building the world’s most accessible financial services for the traditionally underbanked. Pentagram has created a new brand identity for Tala that reflects its empowering mission. The system is friendly, welcoming and accessible, built around a universal visual language of diverse shapes.
The Pentagram team collaborated closely on the brand identity with Tala leadership, including Shivani Siroya, Founder and CEO. The company first launched in Kenya in 2014 with an easy-to-use consumer credit app that instantly underwrites and disburses loans to people who have never had a formal credit history. Since then, over 6 million customers have used Tala to expand their businesses and reach their financial goals. The new identity coincides with several new financial products launching in Kenya, Mexico and the Philippines in 2022.
The geometric shapes of the identity are inspired by local architecture in Tala’s markets, and suggest the arches and doorways customers metaphorically move through everyday as Tala opens up opportunities. The shapes are part of the wordmark, where they double as contrasting uppercase “A”s. In applications, the shapes can be used as containers for images, typography and other content, or arranged and repeated in mosaic patterns that can be animated for dynamic digital contexts.
“As a global technology company with an audacious vision—to enable financial agency for underbanked populations around the world—we needed a visual language and design system that better reflected our values while also being flexible enough to carry us into the future,” Siroya says. “Our new brand assets deliver on all of that and more, with a bold and diverse library of colors, shapes and patterns that celebrate where we’re headed as a company while also acknowledging the attributes that have helped make Tala one of the most trusted brands in the markets we serve.”
