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Case study 02 / 06Concept project
Self-initiated

SectorFintech
Payments and treasury

ScopeLogo, identity system, product UI theme

Year2026

(00)

SterlTwo lines that always reconcile.

Treasury and payments for companies that just raised.

Concept project. Sterl is a fictional company. This identity is self-initiated work by Ikonra Studio, made to show how we would approach a brief like this. It is not client work, and the brief below is imagined.

(01)

Imagined brief

Sterl gives finance teams at venture-backed companies one place to hold cash, pay suppliers and close the month. The imagined brief: a brand for the Series A, trustworthy enough for a CFO without borrowing the stiffness of a bank.

It had to work on a card, an invoice and a deck slide, and look at home next to the bank logos it sits beside.

(02)

Approach

The symbol is an equals sign under shear. Two lines that balance, already moving. It reads as reconciliation and as speed, and it scales down to a card chip without losing either.

Schibsted Grotesk gives the wordmark a newspaper firmness. IBM Plex Mono carries every figure so columns of money always line up. Banknote green and cotton paper do the trust; copper is used only where money moves.

(03)

Construction

Drawn on a 10-unit grid so the symbol stays exact from a 1024 px app icon down to a 16 px favicon.

Sterl symbol, 112 × 86 unitsGrid: 10 units
Fig. 01Symbol on its construction grid.
  1. ATwo bars, 84 × 34 units
  2. BShear 14 units: about 22°
  3. CGap equal to half a bar
Fig. 02Clear space: half the lockup height on every side.

Minimum sizes

  • 16 px
  • 24 px
  • 32 px
  • 48 px
  • Lockup, 20 px tall minimum

(04)

Colour and type

Four colours, each with one job. Two free typefaces, so the team can use them anywhere without a licence conversation.

Display and interfaceSchibsted Grotesk

Treasury for companies that just raised.

SupportingIBM Plex Mono

Hold, move and reconcile cash in one place, with approvals your board will recognise.

(05)

Applications

The brand where a funded company actually lives: inside the product, on the website, in the deck and on the launch post. Names and figures in the interface are illustrative.

Sterl product interface: treasury dashboard with balances in three currencies and upcoming payments
Fig. 03Product interface
Two Sterl corporate cards
Fig. 04Corporate cards
Sterl pitch deck cover slide, “Company overview”
Fig. 05Pitch deck cover
Sterl investor one-pager layout, body copy shown as grey lines
Fig. 06Investor one-pager
Sterl app icons at several sizes and a browser tab showing the favicon
Fig. 07App icon and favicon set

(06)

Deliverables

  1. 01Symbol and wordmark
  2. 02Corporate card design
  3. 03App icon and favicon set
  4. 04Colour and type system with figure styles
  5. 05Product UI theme
  6. 06Pitch deck and investor one-pager templates

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