The challenge

Pulse helps freelancers handle invoices, tax savings and everyday money in one app. Its audience is creative, busy and often anxious about irregular income. The old brand looked like every other banking app: cold blues, stock photos and a website full of financial jargon.

People who tried Pulse liked it, but too many dropped off during onboarding because they did not understand what each feature was for. The brief was to build a brand that feels trustworthy without feeling like a bank, and a website that explains money in plain words.

Our approach

We interviewed freelancers across design, writing and development. Again and again they described their income as waves: busy months, quiet months and the stress of guessing which one comes next. Pulse is most useful exactly in that gap.

Strategy

The brand idea became money that moves with you. We wrote a plain language guide with a short list of banned words, and every feature now has a one-sentence explanation a friend could repeat. If a sentence needs a glossary, we rewrite it.

Identity

The visual language uses soft, flowing shapes inspired by the rhythm of irregular income. They swell and calm down depending on the content around them, so a tax reminder feels different from a payday notification. A warm palette, a clear sans serif and generous spacing keep the system friendly and easy to read.

Website

We designed and built the new site in Framer. Each product page leads with one sentence, then shows the feature working in a short interactive demo. A tidy CMS lets the team publish guides and updates every week without a developer.

What we delivered

• Brand strategy and plain language guide

• Visual identity and fluid shape system

• Illustration and iconography

• App onboarding redesign

• Framer website with CMS and component library

• Guidelines and handover training

The result

Pulse now has a brand system that scales from app icons to billboards, and the website finally explains the product the way customers talk about it. The support team reports fewer questions about what each feature does.

The in-house team updates the site every week and ships new campaigns using the shape system without waiting on an agency.