Peet Pienaar designs BLE$$ identity to challenge Western-centric financial branding
South African designer Peet Pienaar has created a bold, contextually led visual identity for BLE$$, a payment network that aims to make it easier for the country's rural population to transact digitally.
BLE$$ was established by a team of fintech professionals as an alternative to traditional bank accounts, which, for many underserved South Africans, do not offer a practical or efficient service.
Low-income workers spend up to 35 per cent of their monthly salary travelling to the nearest bank to withdraw their earnings – a task that is made more difficult due to the lack of paved roads and affordable mass transportation.
BLE$$ was set up to eliminate this so-called "distance tax" by providing access to cheaper staple foods, and expanding into local cash access and everyday payments through trusted shops and field agents.
The network functions as a mobile wallet that is connected to users' bank accounts and operates in conjunction with convenient locations where they can access simple financial services.
Field agents – sometimes referred to as human ATMs – carry handheld devices that allow clients to make deposits and withdrawals free of charge and without needing the internet or a smartphone.
The agents can be trusted members of the community or operators of local shops, known as spazas, which also offer customers essentials like maize meal at a discounted price.
Maize meal is a staple food accounting for around five per cent of an average monthly wage in many South African communities. BLE$$ is able to bulk buy, package and sell the maize directly to families at a discounted rate by condensing the supply chain.
Customers who use BLE$$ to purchase maize are more likely to pay for other goods digitally, and therefore continue to benefit from improved financial inclusion.
BLE$$ launched its pilot project in South Africa's Limpopo province, which is home to 10 per cent of the nation's population and is the largest recipient of social security grants in the country.
The design of the brand's visual identity aims to help establish trust among the local community, as people in this region relate most strongly to things they can see and touch, according to Pienaar.
The BLE$$ team brought Pienaar on board as creative director and tasked him with developing a contextually appropriate identity that engenders trust in the network's users.
"I wanted to create an identity that feels like it belongs to the community it serves," Pienaar told Dezeen, adding that his colourful design intentionally departs from the clean-lined, minimalist branding historically favoured by South African banks.
"While that aesthetic signals institutional power in Europe or the US, here it can often signal exclusion or distance," he said of the typically Western-centric corporate branding.
For BLE$$, Piennar drew inspiration from the way in which South Africans playfully adapt and repurpose global brand symbols, using the Nike swoosh or Apple's logo to decorate their cars, shops and market stalls.
"Outsiders unfamiliar with this context might dismiss this as imitation, but in reality it's the birth of a dynamic dialogue where these symbols take on new, resonant significances and meanings," he said.
"By applying this energy, BLE$$ feels less like a corporate institution and more like a part of the daily fabric of life."
The identity, with its bold font, simple symbols and vibrant palette of magenta, green and gold, was designed to sit comfortably alongside familiar visuals found throughout the local community.
Pienaar also referenced indigenous patterns and motifs that have emerged and evolved over centuries of trade between India and the north and eastern provinces of South Africa.
The branding has been applied to shop walls as a tool to help build recognition and identify the spaza shops as hubs for rural residents.
The brand's name references the South African slang word 'Blesser', which refers to someone providing financial support, goodwill or care to another.
Pienaar is a renowned visual designer and creative director with a background in contemporary art and over two decades of experience working for brands including MTV, Comme des Garcons, Camper and the New York Times.
He co-founded the Mami Wata surfing label and is known for his work exploring African identity and folklore. He also designed and edited a book that celebrates the visual culture of African sports and its global influence through the lens of design.
The images are courtesy of BLE$$.
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