Creating a life-led experience for work and play around a banking space.

Our collaboration with İş Bank resulted in a space that is not only an innovative take on a traditional bank branch but also a partnership that resulted in a holistic project that incorporates a digital app – a portal to a physical space. With fewer clients visiting the branch thanks to their digital offerings; İş Bank needed to re-purpose their physical branch to create value and build connections in areas of life that exceed financial services.
Today, the space serves as a vibrant hub that serves as a gathering place for life, work, and recreation.

A thorough service design process provided us with the insight for creating the space the brand envisioned as well as building our strategy for a welcoming experience that catered to people with low branch visit frequencies. This is a hub for people willing to increase their visits thanks to a range of exciting new offerings from community events to spaces for work to a physical manifestation of their online marketplace Pazarama and a cafe corner to catch up with friends over good coffee. The new area, which we named İşmekan (Mekan means space in Turkish referring to an open and welcoming experience for social gatherings as well as for time spent in solitude away from home) fully incorporates İş Bank’s art & culture and sustainability capabilities. Our project approach includes an app design that enables visitors to view events, purchase tickets and reserve workspaces. With a simple but effective digital design, the app is a portal that welcomes the visitor into the physical space and also provides interaction via a feedback section where visitors can input their opinions to better the overall experience on offer.

Working with the bank, we have also built a community-building strategy detailing the events and offerings aimed to bring people together and best ensure that this will continue to be a living & breathing space. Our approach included a detailed research process where interviews were held to better understand the kinds of events that people expected from İş Bank as well as the need to access information and opportunities for socialising. Based on the expectations of the personas defined following the research process, we designed an event content strategy that offers workshops and talks on finance, the neighbourhood’s culture and history, book clubs and opportunities for get-togethers for young students. The carefully curated event content plan was built in consideration of the social and economic needs of the visitors while enforcing the brand’s work on sustainability and education efforts.

İş Bank, the first national bank in Turkey, is a trusted and respected brand with advanced digital tools and reputable impact in areas of art & culture, sustainability efforts and education. With fewer clients visiting the branch thanks to their digital offerings; İş Bank needed to re-purpose their physical branch to create value and build connections in areas of life that exceed financial services.
A thorough service design process provided us with the insight for creating the space the brand envisioned as well as building our strategy for a welcoming experience that catered to people with low branch visit frequencies. This is a hub for people willing to increase their visits thanks to a range of exciting new offerings from community events to spaces for work to a physical manifestation of their online marketplace Pazarama and a cafe corner to catch up with friends over good coffee. The new area, which we named İşmekan (Mekan means space in Turkish referring to an open and welcoming experience for social gatherings as well as for time spent in solitude away from home) fully incorporates İş Bank’s art & culture and sustainability capabilities. Our project approach includes an app design that will enable visitors to view events, purchase tickets and reserve workspaces. Working with the bank to further elevate the spacial experience, we have also built a community-building strategy detailing the events and offerings aimed to bring people together and best ensure that this will continue to be a living & breathing space.

For the full case study or any enquiries, please contact us at hello@i-amonline.com.