Fair credit for working people, from seed stage to 5 million customers.

Empower, now Tilt, gives cash and credit to the people banks overlook. I joined its in-house team in San Francisco in August 2019, when the company was still seed-funded, and spent six years as a brand designer on a small in-house team.

My work covered much of what customers saw: paid social, emails, App Store and Google Play listings, the website and the app. When Empower became Tilt in 2025, with a new identity by Ragged Edge, I helped bring it into all of them.

Result: after the rebrand, the Meta campaigns I designed delivered a 70% higher click-through rate, and the company grew from about 600,000 users to more than 5 million customers over my time there.

My role: In-house Brand Designer · Paid Social, Email, App Store Listings, Website, App and Brand Rollout · August 2019 – December 2025

I designed across the ads, emails, store listings, the website and the app. After the rebrand, the Meta campaigns I designed delivered a 70% higher click-through rate.

Phone resting on a beige trench coat, showing the Tilt mobile website

Tilt Cash Advance ad: a person walking across a crosswalk at dusk, with the headline “Night shift. Again.”

Cards in the new identity

When Empower became Tilt, the cards needed a redesign too. I designed the new cards, giving each plan its own colour, then took them through the printing discussions with the card manufacturer, from the first print specs to final delivery.

One brand across the website and the app

The website and the app had to feel like one product, so the new type, colour and voice ran from landing pages through to the screens people used every day.

Store listings that earn the download

The App Store and Google Play pages are often the last step before someone installs. Every month the marketing team tested new listings, and I worked with them on it, brainstorming ideas and designing each round. We iterated on the screenshots, headlines and order to turn more visits into downloads, while keeping everything in line with what people had just seen in the ads.

Tilt approach page on a phone with the headline “Always looking for ways to say yes”

Tilt credit limit page: “You’re pushing ahead. We’re pulling for you.” with cards showing four ways to earn a limit increase

Tilt web design system pages: typography, illustrations, buttons, inputs and navigation

Tilt website section “The Tilt difference” with a painted illustration of car keys being handed over, and stats: $7B+ extended, 5M+ customers, 450,000+ 5-star reviews

Ads that build trust and drive sign-ups

Paid social carried most of the growth, so the ads had two jobs. Brand-led pieces made Tilt recognisable and easy to trust, while conversion-focused ones were direct and offer-led, built to get the tap. After the rebrand, the first Meta campaigns in the new identity delivered a 70% higher click-through rate, and sign-ups carried on through the switch without a dip.

One brand across the website and the app

The website and the app had to feel like one product, so the new type, colour and voice ran from landing pages through to the screens people used every day.

Tilt Cash Advance ad: a smiling man looks at his phone, with “Up to $400 right now” and a Tap to accept button

Yellow Tilt ad with the headline “You don’t need fixing. You need backing.” and the Tilt app icon

Four Tilt Cash Advance ads in a row: coins with “+$400 Cash Advance”, “Give yourself a cash cushion”, “Money in minutes” and a 4.8 App Store rating review card

Black and white Tilt ad: a person waiting on a subway platform as a train passes, with the headline “Another double.”

Tilt ad: a woman on her phone seen through a bus window at night, with the headline “It’s effort, not ease.”

Emails that feel like the same brand

Lifecycle and marketing emails picked up where the ads left off, so the tone and look people trusted in their feed carried on into their inbox.

Ads that build trust and drive sign-ups

Store listings that earn the download

Emails that feel like the same brand

Lifecycle and marketing emails picked up where the ads left off, so the tone and look people trusted in their feed carried on into their inbox.

Tilt app screen on yellow: “Limit just got higher!” with a cupcake illustration and a credit limit rising from $2,000 to $2,500

Yellow Tilt Motion Visa card over a photo of a cook chopping fruit in a restaurant kitchen

Tilt email on a denim background: “Congratulations on your first Cash Advance” with a wallet illustration and a Go to the app button

Tilt Motion card welcome insert: “You and me? We’re going places.” beside steps to activate the card, set up AutoPay and start spending

Six years, from 600,000 users to 5 million customers

I joined when Empower was seed-funded and left after it became Tilt. Over those years it raised a $20M Series A, became profitable in 2022 and grew from about 600,000 users to more than 5 million customers.