Wally Krantz’s
Outside Order

Co-op Solutions

Founded over 40 years ago, Co-op Solutions has become the market-leading financial technology provider serving the nation’s credit unions.

Wally led the development of the logo and visual system, then worked with Co-op’s experience team beyond the launch to expand the visual language, templates, touch points, and advise and design for events and new initiatives.

Products and services are organized into pillars to give the marketing team a framework for working with other teams across the business.

Once in place, signatures were designed to live in a range of external or internal touchpoints.

Print system for product papers, white papers, case studies, guides, and RFPs were developed as a single system. InDesign templates were made for their marketing team and agencies while Word templates were provided to all employees. Both are more simple, coherent, and connected.

Work sessions were conducted as pressure-testing and training session with Co-op’s agency partners and internal teams to get deeper into the range of materials needed and the ways they would be produced.

Comprehensive brand guidelines were developed for the use by both Co-op’s internal marketing team and their partner agencies.

A proprietary icon library was created as a design tool to minimize the reliance on stock imagery.

Over 300 icons are available for use across websites, presentations, white papers, annual reports, videos, way finding, events, and social media.

Website before

Website reskin

Digital design assets, from hero images to icon integration, were created for Co-op’s internal digital team and comms agency to create a reskin within their legacy CMS system.

A tool kit designed for the needs of their digital properties included new hero graphics and imagery, typographic specifications and hierarchies, an augmented brand color palette, web-specific icon sets, and a button and CTA sensibility that could be shared across all digital touch points.

PowerPoint primary template

PowerPoint extended toolkit

PowerPoint icon library

Employee touch points aligned with the brand vision and values.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion is a central part of Co-op as an organization and brand. Employees are engaged with programs through the DE+I Council as well as the employee-run employee resource groups.

Collaborating with Co-op’s internal teams and HR, a shared graphic system based on the “+” symbol was created that gave each group a unique symbol while being a connected network supported by Co-op.

By creating a considered and flexible signature system for the ERGs that connected to the DE+I signature, Co-op was able to be as consistent at the brand-level as they are as an organization.

Co-op’s yearly THINK conference brings together credit union executives and thought leaders to promote change and growth in the credit union movement.

Previous THINK events would use a unique design system for each year—much of which did not align with, or was a disconnect, from the Co-op brand.

Collaboration with Co-op's events team and agencies helped to simplify the brand expression and strengthen the Co-op relationship to the THINK brand.

A design system was created that uses a dynamic typographic approach that is shared from year to year. Unique messaging, imagery, and color changes to reflect the conference theme and location.

Co-op’s 40th Anniversary. The goal was to create a mark celebrating 40 years of serving credit unions in a way that looked toward the future. Nostalgic clichés of banners and serif type was avoided by staying true to the Co-op design sensibility, resulting an anniversary mark that focuses on their future.

Co-op Solutions

Logo creative direction and design by Wally Krantz with Logan Sheehan for FutureBrand.

Visual identity system creative direction and design by Wally Krantz for OO&Friends. Project management by Sarah Collier.

Visual identity system
Brand architecture signature system
Event and conference design and oversight
ERG signatures
Icon library
Signage
Presentation development and training
Executive presentations
Design oversight and creative direction for multiple agency partners

Co-op Solutions merged with PCSU in January 2024, with the new company rebranded as Velera in May 2024.

Wally Krantz’s Outside Order is based in Brooklyn, New York.

Contact wk@outorinc.com

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