American Express

A Unique Service Company

American Express is the only company with a strong, global presence across the entire payments chain. They are the world’s largest card issuer, with a premium network for high-spending cardmembers, a processor of millions of transactions daily, and a partner that provides business-building services to a worldwide merchant base. Having this horizontal scale across payments gives them diverse opportunities to grow their business and drive innovation in the marketplace. It’s also a gateway to a broader array of services that further differentiate American Express.

Design and Innovation Projects

We help American Express on a range of design and innovation projects. We work directly with the UX and design team in New York. We support the team on future scenario concepts, brand and UI design language and style guides, online destinations, dashboards and native apps.

What has Spring/Summer created for American Express?

Spring/Summer has worked with American Express on an ongoing basis since 2014, supporting the New York UX and design team across future-scenario concepts, app release candidates, motion graphics, design system work, online destinations, and dashboards. This is a decade-long design partnership across many project types rather than a single launch.

What technology and tools power the work?

The work with American Express spans many technologies and product surfaces: online destinations, native apps, dashboards, design systems, and motion. We work as an extension of American Express's in-house UX and design team, adapting to the platforms they use internally rather than imposing our own stack.

What was the brief Spring/Summer was given?

American Express is the world's largest card issuer and the only company with a strong presence across the entire payments chain. The work with Spring/Summer has never been a single brief. Instead, it is an ongoing design partnership: future-scenario concepts, brand and UI language work, online destinations, dashboards, native apps, and motion. The thread is craft and a New York to Copenhagen working relationship built over a decade.

What design and strategic decisions shaped the work?

We embed with the American Express UX and design team in New York and work across multiple surfaces in parallel. Our role spans concept, strategy, UX, UI, motion, and development. The work is not a redesign; it is a continuous contribution to the design system, future-state thinking, and product experiences. Range and trust are the two things this partnership is built on.

What is the outcome of the collaboration?

The collaboration with American Express is now in its second decade and continues across multiple surfaces and disciplines. Spring/Summer remains an ongoing design partner for one of the world's largest card issuers, contributing to product design, future-state scenarios, motion, and design system work. The depth of the relationship is itself the most quotable outcome: more than ten years of continuous collaboration with a global financial brand.

Who is this case relevant for?

This case is for global enterprises, financial brands, and large in-house design teams that need a design partner who can work as an extension of the team, across multiple surfaces, over years rather than months. If your organisation needs continuity, range, and craft from an external partner, this is the work we love.

How can a brand start a similar project with Spring/Summer?

Tell us about your project at contact@springsummer.dk or call +45 32 16 22 22. We're a Copenhagen-based digital design and brand agency, and we like hearing about briefs early, even if you're still figuring out what you need. Let's collaborate and make great stuff.