Anna has announced the launch of the business accounts and admin assistance service aimed at supporting small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the creative industries.
Alongside artificial intelligence designed (and taught) to help save creative professionals hours of admin, the brand has been created by a team including Michael Wolff, illustrator Alice Bowsher and NB Studio.
Promising to help creatives keep on top of both their business finances and accompanying admin, Anna – which stands for Absolutely No-Nonsense Admin – provides an entirely digital platform that addresses the unique needs of SMEs for whom creativity is integral to their business, from design and architecture to independent cafes, distilleries or breweries. Anna has been designed specifically to suit the needs of creative professionals at all levels – from sole traders to established agencies.
Daljit Singh, Chief Design Officer of Anna explains: “As a creative business strategist, I’ve observed the struggles that small business owners go through dealing with admin. The creative industries are worth over £90 billion to the UK economy, yet there isn’t a single service out there that is specially aimed at making running a creative business easier. Anna changes all this; it will improve productivity with the main aim of saving people time so they are freed up to do more of the things they love.”
Nick Finney of NB Studio explains “Traditionally, there’s no place for emotion in finance; we wanted the visual identity to embody the opposite of that. As a small business owner, you’re there to do something you love. The identity we created features illustrations by Alice Bowsher, whose charming, playful drawings help make Anna an approachable and relatable brand. The warmth of the terracotta orange throughout the website, digital platforms and collateral stands in sharp contrast to the traditional cold blues of banks, corporations and traditional fintech.”
Designer and Creative Advisor Michael Wolff continues: “Meticulous care has gone into developing the brand. Anna is bold yet self-effacing. It’s entertaining because what’s the point of being dull? It is entertaining in an apt and restrained manner. Above everything, Anna is practical and no nonsense. Everything about the brand identity reflects the communities Anna serves.”
Singh adds “Anna is very different from other fintech brands. It uses tech and AI but is about the human. It’s playful and friendly. The brand reflects both our product and hopefully feels relevant to the imaginative and visionary, dedicated and hardworking people behind all small and medium sized businesses.”
Anna is not a bank, rather it combines a business current account, debit card, and a hybrid (human and artificial) intelligence assistant into the Anna current account. This comes with a card that can be accessed through an app.
Alongside the current account, planned features include innovative tools to analyse expenses, chase payments, and predict cash-flow, as well as giving users a clear overview of their finances.
Combining artificial intelligence with human insights, Anna can also send and pay invoices. This is done using email, which the AI can analyse to learn how much you’re owed, by whom, and chasing them (politely) when they’re due. Likewise, when users receive an invoice, they can forward the details onto Anna, which will prepare any payment instructions and fill in information like surnames and sort codes so that the payment is ready to be made whenever needed.
Anna is currently in beta and currently onboarding its first 2,000 customers, who will have free access to Anna for three years.
Source: NB Studio
Michael Wolff, NB Studio & Alice Bowsher help create identity for ANNA – a new financial service for creatives added by newsroom on
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