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In August 2020 Afterpay launched a new global look, feel and positioning. AdNews reported that the payments platform, founded in Bondi five years earlier, had almost 10 million customers and more than 55,000 merchants across Australia, the US, New Zealand and the UK, where it trades as Clearpay, with Canada to follow.

Colour came first. Based on user research and trend forecasting, Afterpay worked with the colour institute Pantone to create an exclusive mint hue, Bondi Mint, designed to be transparent, fresh, energetic and modern to match the attributes of its customers. The logo evolved from two disconnected triangles into a continuous loop, representing the infinite relationship between customers and merchants.

Global chief marketing officer Geoff Seeley said that strong global growth meant the time had never been better to update the identity and more strongly reflect who its customers are and why they choose Afterpay. AdNews and the company's release both stated that the new brand system was developed with the agency YummyColours, and that the logo would roll out across all 55,000 merchant websites and physical stores in the following weeks.

The loop is a neat piece of reduction. Two triangles that never touched were an odd symbol for a business built on connection; joining them says what the company does in one stroke, and it scales cleanly on a checkout button, which is where this logo lives.

Afterpay's own merchant news page described the look as bold, optimistic and nothing like a traditional financial services brand, because, it said, Afterpay is not one. It tied the timing to a shift away from debt and credit cards led by Millennials and embraced by Gen Z, claiming that between February and April 2020 credit card use fell by seven per cent while buy now, pay later rose by 22 per cent. It said a lot had changed since the 2014 launch and that Bondi Mint reflects the company's Australian beginnings. Defining yourself by what you are not is a risky brand strategy, but for a lender trying not to look like one, the mint does the job.

Bondi Mint is the bigger asset. In a sector of blues, a pale mint is instantly recognisable on a crowded payment page, and the Bondi name ties a global brand to the suburb where it was founded.