Communication Design for a Local Financial Institution

KGFS Rural Banking Communication Design by No FormulaeSahastradhara Kshetriya Gramin Financial Services (SKGFS) was set by IFMR Holdings which is a subsidiary of IFMR Trust with a mission “To maximize the financial well-being of every individual and every enterprise in the remote rural hills of Uttarakhand”.

Sahastradhara KGFS provides a range of financial services which includes credits, insurance, remittance and investments.

Poster Design

The branches of this financial institution gel in well with the village environment and thus the communication about the services which was conceived on a poster of the dimensions 2 feet by 5 feet that would be a part of every branch needed to be seamlessly integrate with the current experience.

The following key services of the bank had to be communicated to the rural audience.

  • Individual Loan
  • JLG Loan (Joint liability group loan, which would be given to a group formed by 5 women)
  • Jewel Loan
  • Retailer Loan
  • Money Market Mutual Fund
  • Insurance: Personal Accident and Group term Life
  • Remittance

The language of communication was Hindi and the chosen dimension of the poster was a prerequisite that arose from the size of the wall in which it had to be placed. We chose illustrations to communicate these 7 offerings easily and effectively.

From a research of the people  and culture of the land we were able to build the characters for our script and the language of the illustrations. The colors and expressions are typical of the land and its people.

An understanding of the local native’s  interpretation of these financial services helped us build appropriate metaphors and the corresponding visuals for each of the services. The following visuals were designed which were later incorporated together in the poster communicating the services of KGFS.

KGFS Rural Communication Design by No Formulae

KGFS Poster - Rural Banking Communication Design by No Formulae

Flyer Design


Sahastradhara KGFS intends to extend financial support to tourism ventures in the state of Uttarakhand for:

  1. Creation of homestays
  2. Creation of additional infrastructure in already existing hotels/ homestays
  3. Creation/ up gradation of existing restaurant/ dhaaba
  4. Any other tourism related infrastructure that needs to be created

To this extent Sahastradhara KGFS invites interested bodies like civil society organizations/ NGOs/ private companies/ individuals, etc. for partnership and mutual collaboration. The idea is to add to the existing tourism infrastructure in the state and create additional livelihood opportunities and better ambiance for tourist.

To promote this interest of KGFS in rural tourism a joint conference was hoisted where KGFS partnered with RTNE (Rural Tourism Network, a body which specialises in rural tourism).

It was decided that the promotion material would be in form of a flyer of A4 size adhering the logistics and other associated constraints. The huge amount of information to be communicated made it impossible to place it in a conventional manner on a A4 sheet.

The verbose text made the flyer dull and intimidating. To overcome this problem we divided the content into sections giviing the information a logical flow. Next, we devised an innovative folding of the A4 sheet, which divided the entire space into 9 frames.

KGFS Flyers - Rural Banking Communication Design by No Formulae

The information was placed in these 9 frames in such a manner that each frame had just the right amount of information and led way to the next frame, thereby unfolding the entire information much like a story with each passing sentence building the interest and leading to the next one. The folding of the flyer not only transformed the entire communication to a presentation but also made the flyer functionally easier to handle.

IFMR Flyer Folding - Rural Banking Communication Design by No Formulae

IFMR Flyer Folding - Rural Banking Communication Design by No Formulae

It was a common observation that such A4 size flyers are usually folded by the recipients in-order to be easily stored. Our pre-folded flyer which folded back to the size of a visiting card  was easy to carry and handle.

KGFS Rural Banking Communication Design by No Formulae

The communication was a big success with the innovative flyer widely read and appreciated by the audience.


Project Brief


To communicate the services and offerings of the bank to its customers in form of a poster which would be placed in the various branches of the bank in the intended geographic region. To design a hand out for a conference which would tell the participants about the various services of the bank and it’s partner organization and would be easy to carry and distribute.

Key Insights


There has to be a right balance between the metaphors and the direct literal representation to achieve effective communication. Inspite of the fact that the major population still resides in the rural areas there’s a huge difference between the taste and understanding of the rural audience from region to region. The geography and culture had to be well established to design the caricatures and metaphors which would be an instant connect to our target audience.
 
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