HSBC had a complex and varied range of dozens of file sharing tools and asset management systems, used by internal and external brand, marketing, digital and design teams to serve customers across 60+ markets and three business lines. The disparate nature meant there was no clear, single source of truth for the brand, design and creative standards. It also reflected a siloed organisation that struggled to unite their creative community behind one unified brand/set of common guidelines.

Following HSBC’s brand identity refresh in 2018, it became apparent that a new, simple, unified, effective platform was needed for the internal and external global creative community, to fulfil the diverse and unique needs of customers worldwide.

The new intranet, named create.hsbc, would be the catalyst to align HSBC’s design thinking methodology with their “One world, one brand” strategy, a new home to showcase global best practice that also:

-Brings together HSBC’s brand history, strategy and story

-Houses all creative assets, guidelines, content, toolkits and files in one location

-Breaks down the siloed digital versus non-digital mentality

-Encourages collaboration/best practice sharing across teams/markets

-Provides practical guidance and inspiration to HSBC’s UX, design and creative community

-Reduces costs

-Increases agility and pace of execution

HSBC spent almost a year to research, define, map user journeys, design, build and test a bespoke new user-centric intranet home for its brand and design system.

Applying the brand’s customer experience principles to filter decision-making, it was also shaped by an exhaustive industry benchmarking review and direct feedback from almost 150 interviews across HSBC’s internal/external global creative community.

The result was an ambition for create.hsbc to connect with/inspire its creative community by moving from:

-Knowledge repository to brand showcase

-Website to platform

-Library to utility

-Static to dynamic

-One directional, top-down brand direction to community-driven

-Helpful to essential

-Content available only internally to accessibility for external partners

create.hsbc’s strategic vision is to simplify/inspire/accelerate every HSBC customer experience – and the same for its own users. It was vital that the intranet itself reflected HSBC’s brand and design standards.

The focus is on three imperatives for create.hsbc’s UX, design and content that directly relate to user goals and business goals:

1. Inspire

2. Simplify

3. Accelerate

create.hsbc is one destination for all creative assets: strategy, brand story, insights, guidelines, campaigns, tools, processes, measurements, and approvals. It’s easy to use/intuitive, seamless, shareable, searchable. Everyone can now build the HSBC brand together.