Prometeo is a fintech founded in 2019 that works in Open Banking and gives businesses access to banking information across Latin America. The company is guided by four core values. First, a commitment to Latin America as both home and purpose. Second, a culture built around transforming systems through ingenuity and a rebellious spirit. Third, the belief in the team’s talent. And fourth, technology as the transformative “fire” that helps democratize financial access and build the region’s future.
In recent years, the company grew quickly, and parts of its visual identity started to feel outdated.
Along the way, a few issues came up that needed special attention.
Much of the system’s visual weight depends on illustrations developed primarily by the illustrator Goga. When new illustrations are needed, other people have to match that personal style as closely as possible. And, naturally, an artist’s style evolves over time.
Because the work is built entirely with bitmap images, image quality has to be reduced quite a bit to meet search engine requirements (2 MB per page). As a result, the texture-rich illustrations lose detail when optimized.
Because of the high level of detail and heavy texture, the illustrations don’t hold up well at small sizes.
And since they’re bitmaps, they can’t be printed at large sizes or on media that require a limited number of inks.
The new visual system for Prometeo needed to follow a few core principles
A style that multiple people can replicate. Visual coherence across patterns, illustrations, and icons.
A style that keeps images lightweight without sacrificing quality.
Vector elements that can be reproduced across different scales and media.
These needs had to come together in a style that conveys dynamism and innovation, aligned with the company’s core values.
Latin America was the main source of inspiration. It’s where the company comes from, and who it works for.
To get there, we went back to the roots to understand how Latinidad shows up visually. We immersed ourselves in the region’s graphic universe, paying close attention to pre-Columbian periods and to how those influences changed with the arrival of European influence.
Through this research, we realized that weaving is more precious than gold, it is the embodiment of work and wisdom honed over generations. In the weave, the core values intertwine to reveals the company’s greatest asset: the collective mastery of the team.
We found the key to unlocking infinite possibilities in a single, basic unit. Like a stitch, this unit allows us to weave an endless number of patterns, which we’ve adopted as the central element of Prometeo’s graphic identity.
Merch friendly
The simplicity of the textures and the curated palette make it possible to create high-quality products while keeping production costs low.
For character creation, we returned to the concept of the basic unit, which enables a wide range of possibilities. We start with a gender-neutral character that, with slight variations, can become countless characters.
The underlying structure makes it possible to articulate the characters and create posture variations without needing to redraw, which speeds up development significantly.
Patterns are used as the clothing’s fill color.
For the illustrations, we chose geometric shapes and flat colors, no shadows or gradients, to preserve the characters’ simple, minimalist style.
We use negative space in the composition, treating the background color as another color and creating shapes through cutouts. This adds visual interest and invites a more attentive read.
Icons are built from the characters’ geometry, using a base construction grid to keep the system consistent.
The use of two colors is standardized, and the background color is used as an additional element in the composition.
This set of rules not only meets the goals above, but also provides a visual framework that makes it possible to create an unlimited number of future resources without compromising the brand’s identity.
