Rewriting People's Relationship With Money
SunWest came to us at a turning point—small bank with a larger than life dream to help people financially succeed. Internally, they knew who they were: a member-owned credit union built on real relationships, local trust, and a belief that banking should actually empower financial well-being. Externally, their bold spirit wasn’t coming through. They felt different, yes. But they looked like everyone else. Sounded like everyone else. And in an industry defined by sameness, that meant getting overlooked.
Challenge
SunWest has always been a different kind of financial institution—one built to serve its community. Less focused on features. More invested in helping people understand and take control of their finances. The need for change wasn’t just cosmetic. It was structural. Attic Salt partnered with SunWest to help them break free from traditional banking, and rebuild their brand experience from the ground up.
Solution
Today, people default to big banks not out of loyalty, but convenience. Money becomes something to avoid. Auto-pilot feels easier… until it isn’t. And when control starts to slip, confidence follows. Financial conversations feel intimidating, so they’re pushed aside and kept in the shadows.
Where larger institutions optimize for transactions, SunWest leads with something harder to scale: human connection, guidance, and trust — a courage to challenge the system. That belief became the driver of our work: to rewrite the relationship people have with their money. Not just how they bank, but how they feel about banking in the first place. To light the path to a better financial future.
Results
We explored multiple creative territories—each pushing against the cold, transactional norms of financial services. One direction stood out; a core creative idea that promises sunnier days ahead and grounds the strategy and identity in optimism, warmth, and trust. At its core, it reminds the organization that the member is the focus. It’s about guiding people toward the financial well-being they deserve, with a banking experience that feels built around possibility.
The visual identity illuminates what SunWest stands for and extends the role they already play—a source of financial guidance and direction. We anchored the design system in the principle: light should be accessible. It reveals, guides, and makes things easier to navigate. This became a priceless toolkit for SunWest's marketing team— allowing them to more easily meet the demand of their workload without having to reinvent the wheel for every campaign and asset.
Working with Attic Salt has been a dream. As the only designer on our team, I knew I did not have the capacity to bring our brand to life in the way it needed. We were in need of a true creative partner, and choosing Attic Salt for that partnership is easily the best decision our team has ever made. Attic Salt's unique process has impressed me from day one. They understood us on a fundamental level before they ever started designing, taking the time and effort to discern exactly who SunWest is, what we do, and where we are going. That level of care and intention is clear in every aspect of the brand they've created. It's not just beautiful, it truly feels like us. It has been delightful to work with this team, which is, quite frankly, bursting with talent and passion for the work. They made the entire process collaborative, thoughtful, and genuinely exciting. I couldn't recommend them more highly.
Alex Pequin, Senior Design, at SunWest
Project Details
2026
18 months
$500K – $1m
8 people
