Onboarding: Joyful touchpoints

Elevating Cashrewards’ brand presence through high-impact OOH creative and a data-driven shopper engagement strategy.

Role

Visual Designer

Team

Head of Brand, Lifecycle squad, Design

Duration

3 months

Context

Cashrewards already offered a strong cashback product, but the experience felt purely transactional. Our goal was to create moments of joy throughout the customer journey — transforming everyday interactions into emotionally uplifting touchpoints. By introducing playful brand elements and adding delight into moments across the lifecycle, we aimed to create more than a functional cashback experience: one that sparks joy and keeps customers coming back.

Problem and Opportunity

Problem: Customers viewed cashback as purely transactional, leaving them emotionally disconnected from the brand.  This lack of emotional resonance resulted in lower engagement and missed opportunities to build loyalty.

Opportunity: We revitalised the brand with a vibrant visual identity centred around joy. By weaving playful design elements, celebratory moments, and more human storytelling into every touchpoint, we transformed the cashback journey from functional to delightful — driving deeper engagement and emotional connection.

Stage 1. Discovery & Research

I began by researching competitors and standout brands in similar markets, exploring design trends and behavioural insights. To understand where emotional moments were missing, I analysed the end-to-end cashback journey and identified gaps where users felt no connection or sense of reward.

To ensure the work remained grounded in real user behaviour, I created personas that represented distinct user segments. These personas became reference points throughout the project to ensure the designs remained relevant and user-centred.
I also mapped the onboarding journey to better understand how customers first encounter and experience the brand, identifying early opportunities to spark joy.

Context

Problem and Opportunity

Stage 1. Discovery & Research

To ensure the work remained grounded in real user behaviour, I created personas that represented distinct user segments. These personas became reference points throughout the project to ensure the designs remained relevant and user-centred.
I also mapped the onboarding journey to better understand how customers first encounter and experience the brand, identifying early opportunities to spark joy.

Stage 2. Bringing Users to Life with Personas

To deeply understand our users — their goals, needs, experiences, and motivations — I went beyond simple demographic profiles. The resulting set of personas represented real behaviours drawn from customer data.

These personas were used throughout the design process to validate ideas, highlight gaps, and ensure we were designing with diverse user needs in mind.
Each persona included:
- Clear goals and motivations
- Emotional drivers and behavioural tendencies
- Cashback habits and decision patterns
- Barriers, challenges, and opportunities for delight

Stage 3. Ideation & Visual Exploration

Working as a design team, we explored multiple style directions — illustrations, shapes, character concepts, and collage treatments. We tested how each direction supported the idea of joyful design while still feeling functional and accessible.
Collaboration played a key role: together we refined the concepts, ensuring the chosen direction was both visually engaging and structurally robust for use across digital and offline environments.
During this phase we also:
- Tested layouts for versatility and scalability
- Explored motion concepts to bring joy into small moments
- Considered accessibility and tone to ensure inclusivity
- Built a design system foundation that tied the identity together
This exploration laid the groundwork for a cohesive joyful brand experience.

Stage 4. Shaping the Brand System

We refined the look and feel to ensure the new brand direction could scale across the website, app, onboarding flow, lifecycle emails, and marketing communications.

 Key Elements Designed 
• Brand Illustrations & Characters 
A playful illustration style designed to visually express “joy” and bring warmth into the cashback experience.

• Colour Testing 
We tested colour palettes to balance boldness with usability, ensuring maximum contrast and clarity.

• Accessibility Considerations 
As the brand became more expressive, we prioritised maintaining accessible colour ratios, ensuring legibility for all users.

Stage 5. Adding ‘Joy’ to the Customer Journey

The customer journey was transformed by identifying key touchpoints where joy could be introduced. From onboarding to first purchase, users now encountered moments of celebration, visual delight, and brand warmth.

This included:

A joyful onboarding experience
Dynamic reward moments
Playful illustrations tied to cashback actions
Messaging that celebrates small wins

Each touchpoint was designed to uplift, reinforce the brand’s personality, and create a more meaningful user connection.

Reflections

The joyful branding initiative enhanced user engagement by creating a more emotionally connected cashback experience. 
Need to further explore all touch points especially positives like withdrawing cashback

Reflections

The joyful branding initiative enhanced user engagement by creating a more emotionally connected cashback experience. 
Need to further explore all touch points especially positives like withdrawing cashback

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Nathan Rego

Nathan Rego

Nathan Rego