Goalsetter
Goalsetter is a financial education platform helping kids and families build smart money habits through tools for saving, investing, and financial literacy. As they prepared to launch MoneyLingo, a gamified learning feature within their app, we partnered with their team to lead creative direction across illustration, visual style, and character design.
A key part of our work involved redesigning their owl mascot—evolving it into a more polished, versatile character that could support both educational storytelling and user engagement. At the time, Goalsetter’s core objective was to increase product participation, especially among younger users. Over a 5-week sprint, we established two distinct creative directions, sketched 50% of the core illustrations, and provided ongoing art direction to Goalsetter’s internal design team through launch.
- Define the creative vision for MoneyLingo product feature, including a holistic illustration style and use of brand color, tone, and brand mascot
- Deliver two creative style directions and sketch 50% of the required illustrations (levels, pillars, success states)
- Provide ongoing art direction and design team support to ensure consistent execution through product launch
We shaped the product branding and art direction for Goalsetter, building a color palette and illustration system designed to flex across their ecosystem. From MoneyLingo’s playful learning dashboard to the more serious investing product, we tailored the visuals to fit each experience while maintaining a cohesive brand feel. We also laid the groundwork for an in-app MoneyLingo mascot, creating a system that could evolve into animation and deepen user engagement over time.
The new owl mascot was designed to be a relatable character that was fun, trustworthy, and able to connect with a broad audience. It appeared in-app, bringing personality to onboarding and error screens. The design avoided talking down to users, instead appealing to college-aged and young adult audiences with a tone and style that felt more like The Simpsons than Dora the Explorer. Inspired by emojis which teens and adults both know well, the Owl is lovable in their dramatic emotional states and range of physical gestures.
.webp)
We partnered with Goalsetter’s Product Team to design motion graphics that brought the product experience to life. The animations were not just decorative; they reinforced learning, added moments of delight, and guided users through key parts of the app. Our focus was on creating motion that felt purposeful and intuitive, helping users understand complex financial concepts in a more engaging and approachable way while strengthening the overall brand personality.
Key Metrics
- Reduction in bounce rate on learning modules
- Clearer, more cohesive visual system aligned with product values
- Delivered two clearly framed creative directions to support fast, confident buy-in from Goalsetter’s leadership team
- Created shared visual references that empowered the internal team to move forward with clarity post-engagement
