Wolberg-Stok is effusive when speaking about the collaboration between Fjord and Citi a partnership that the bank hasn't talked about in detail until now. "One of the things we learned was that our own internal research and skill sets don't always scale in a timely enough manner when tech disruptions take place," Wolberg-Stok told Fortune. "And one thing we learned as a company that likes to innovate is that we need external opinions to counter the typical knee jerk reactions of compromise that come up." Pleased with outsourcing the iPad app, Citi hired Fjord to design its Kindle Fire app, one of the first financial apps released for Amazon's (AMZN) tablet. It was released last month.
Luis Uguina, Global Head of Remote Channels and New Digital Business at BBVA, echoes many of Wolberg-Stok's opinions regarding the bank's own relationship to Fjord. "When dealing with new devices, a bank has to adapt, and that can be difficult when you have 110,000 employees worldwide," Uguina says, speaking animatedly on a mobile phone while heading to a late-night dinner in Madrid. "It's hard for a big bank to be as fast as a small company can be when designing apps."
Uguina and Wolberg-Stok both speak highly of Fjord's ability to create iPad apps that eschew the traditional linear format of PC or smart phone banking. Those previous forms of digital banking were based on the traditional -- and boring -- paper ledger system of listing numerical and other information in neat, but confusing, rows. "I remember when we were designing an app with our own business unit. Everyone wanted to make a form with, oh, what seemed like 100 fields of information on the screen," Uguina says. "Then Fjord designers said 'nonsense!' And they gave us an example of how to redesign our apps to quickly point customers to the number of our call center, with large digits on the screen." BBVA was so impressed with Fjord's design philosophies that it has just hired the firm to remake some of its physical branches, too.
Founded in 2001 by Schybergson, a former creative director at the revered interactive agency Razorfish (now owned by Publicis Groupe(PUBGY)), with Razorfish alums Mark Curtis and Mike Beeston, Fjord is growing. That's notable, given that top design firms are shrinking their staffs in the wake of the Great Recession. Seven years ago, Fjord had a staff of only 18; today, that number is more than ten times that. The company is establishing new offices rapidly; a ninth, in Paris, is just opening its doors. Between 2005 and 2010, annual revenues increased more than tenfold, from a mere 1.9 million euros ($2.52 million) to 23.6 million euros ($31.42 Million). Estimated revenue growth between 2011 and 2012 will be near 21%, according to the company.
