How I designed the CS People Consulting Brand

When a client approached me earlier this year with a mission to step out and build their own brand, I was delighted to be a part of that journey. As someone who prides themselves on log and branding services, whenever I get the chance to take on one of these projects, I jump at the opportunity; it’s some of the most fun, creative and rewarding work I can do.

The first step was a video call with the client to discuss the crucial information:

• Who they are
• What they do
• What they want to achieve
• Who their target audience is

Having that time to sit and chat about the things that matter to a client is so important when it comes to anything brand related, because branding isn’t simply about logos and colours, it’s about taking personality and making it something the world can interact with.

Once that was all sorted, I set about creating a series of drafts and concepts, narrowing it down to three to show the client, along with mockups for each. The client immediately fell in love with one in particular, which also happened to be my personal favourite out of the designs and we set about fine-tuning it to be exactly what they wanted: a little rotation here, a little curve there and it was ready for me to flesh out.

We discussed colour theory, fonts & legibility, tone of voice, tangibility and more before finalising the brand in a way that made their eyes light up. Presenting that last set of mockups along with the brand guidelines document and seeing the reaction to the work was phenomenal.

Let us be guided…

Creating spacing guidelines in the brand document means that the brand elements have the best opportunity to shine.

Each iteration of the brand elements was also given a set of guidelines and examples for use to try and ensure consistency and best-use.

The mockups included documents, stationery and, of course, a website design, which was the second part of this project.

We had discussed what the client needed in terms of their website and how the idea behind the branding was going to fit into that. Having looked at some of the websites that the client found interesting, I knew what was needed to bring it all together into one slick, modern and clean package.

Focused design

The web design approach wasn’t simply to get the content onto the screen and have it looking nice. The design was very intentional and deliberate in its goal of focusing the reader on the information without distraction or overwhelming the reader with too much content at once.

Separation and spacing were well-factored, motion was subtle but eye-catching and colour contrast helped to break apart the page whilst allowing the full story to be told.

I used the simple brand mark as a transformative device – a visual metaphor for the transformative nature of the business – and incorporated that across properties; letterheads, business cards and even website sections, it was present, consistent and clever.

Making the brand tangible

Taking the brand guidelines and turning them into real world products such as business cards and letterheads gives a level of tangibility that you can’t get with a website or app.

Real-world, human experiences are still the most important thing and being able to hand over physical branded products is a special moment.

What Now?

The site is now live and looking fantastic, the client is delighted with the work and the next move is to watch the buisness grow and continue to provide support and generate more branded collateral for them going forward.