Island Savings Credit Union

Turning Community Trust Into a Competitive Advantage

Island Savings had something larger financial institutions spend years trying to create: deep trust within the communities it served.

Its reputation was built on personal relationships, local knowledge, and a genuine commitment to Vancouver Island. But while the organization had earned considerable customer confidence, its brand did not fully reflect the sophistication, capability, or ambition of the business.

The challenge was not to abandon what made Island Savings distinctive.

It was to elevate it.

Boyle partnered with Island Savings to transform a respected community credit union into a more contemporary and competitive financial brand — while preserving the familiarity and connection that had made it successful in the first place.

Reframing What a Community Financial Institution Could Be

Island Savings was competing in a category dominated by much larger organizations with significantly greater marketing resources.

Trying to resemble those institutions would have erased one of Island Savings’ greatest advantages.

The opportunity was instead to build from what was already fundamentally true: the organization understood its communities, valued personal relationships, and possessed a strong sense of place.

Boyle used those attributes as the strategic foundation for the new brand — creating an identity that could communicate professionalism and financial confidence without losing the warmth and accessibility customers already associated with Island Savings.

The new mark reflected community, stronger customer relationships, and the organization’s connection to the Island itself. Typography and colour drew from Vancouver Island’s natural environment, creating a system that felt contemporary while remaining unmistakably rooted in place.

Typography emerged as a cornerstone of the visual identity system, designed to stand out and resonate. Drawing inspiration from Vancouver Island’s natural surroundings, a humanistic typeface was carefully chosen to embody the essence of the financial organization. The color system, reflecting trust, progress, and the spirit of the island, became integral to the identity’s visual language.

Turning Banking Products Into A Clearer Customer Proposition

The transformation extended beyond the corporate identity.

Island Savings’ four core banking products represented an opportunity to make the organization’s value easier for customers to understand and navigate.

Boyle developed a cohesive product identity system inspired by the sand dollar, bringing greater distinction and consistency to the portfolio while connecting each offering back to the master brand.

Rather than communicating products as isolated financial services, the system created a clearer relationship between them — helping customers more easily understand what each offered and how it could support their needs.

The result was a more coherent customer proposition across the organization.

Bringing The Brand Into The Banking Experience

A transformation of this scale could not stop at communications.The physical banking environment needed to express the same confidence, openness, and sense of connection as the new identity.

Working with Ratio Architecture and Interior Design, Boyle used the brand as a lens for reimagining Island Savings’ retail experience across branch interiors and exteriors.

Open spaces, environmental graphics, signage, colour, and visual language were brought together as one connected experience.

Customers did not simply encounter the new Island Savings through advertising or collateral.

They experienced it when they walked through the door.

A Stronger Position For What Came Next

The transformation changed more than Island Savings’ appearance.

It created a stronger expression of the organization’s value — helping Island Savings present itself as a sophisticated financial institution while retaining the community trust that differentiated it from larger competitors.

Internally, the new brand also provided employees with a clearer shared expression of where the organization was headed and what it stood for.

Within a year of the transformation, Island Savings entered a new chapter through its acquisition by First West Credit Union.

Dennis Boyle is an exquisite designer and highly innovative thinker. He has a flair for innovative and brilliant designs that truly reflect the needs and desires of the intended audience. He is meticulous and thoughtful and truly sees design from every angle and possibility. I have worked with Dennis on Island Savings Credit Union for their brand transformation and Pacific Arbour Retirement Communities (PARC) for their brand relaunch. I would highly recommend Boyle Design for creative brand strategy and execution.

Louisa Flinn, Executive Partner 
Marketing and Community Investment