Elise Danielle: Branding + Squarespace Website Design
I’m so excited about this website and branding reveal because to be honest, it’s my new favorite portfolio piece.
Not only was it a dream come true to help Elise with her branding and website re-design (I’d been following her online for over a year), but it was just SO much fun bringing this project to live.
So some backstory…
Elise a business mentor & success coach for purpose driven women.
She supports women on a mission to truly contribute to the world with their gifts. She focuses mostly on high-touch support so that she’s seen as a partner in her clients' businesses.
Her mission is to support women to step fully into their power so that they can get their work into the hands of humans that need it by starting, growing and scaling purpose driven businesses that make them a fuck ton of profit.
When Elise set up a call with me, she had a website that had previously been designed, but it was outdated and didn’t represent the new direction of her business.
But the worst part was that it wasn’t mobile optimized 😱
Her previous designer has uploaded massive amounts of text as images - paragraphs, testimonials, headings on banner images, etc.
Not only was the text cut off on mobile screens (completely ruining the user experience), but it was a pain in the a$$ for Elise to make any changes.
If you don’t know me already, I place a super heavy focus on SEO when I build websites.
It was important to me that Elise’s new website not only look bangin on a desktop, but also super readable and user friendly on a phone.
Not to mention that it’s super important that Google (and people who are visually impaired) can understand what’s on the screen. That’s not possible when website content is hidden inside images.
Elise said being able to easily update her website with new offers and refreshed copy was most important to her since there were so many images with text on her current site, making it difficult to easily go into the backend and make updates.
She also really wanted the branding and website to completely capture her essence and feel punchy/fun in a way that would entice site visitors to take action.
I’m excited to be diving into this project so you can see the behind the scenes.
Step 1: Logo Design
First on the list was diving into the color palette and logo design after solidifying the mood board.
Elise wanted her branding and website to exude these emotions:
Fun
Feisty
Badass
Powerful
Approachable
She was leaning towards a modern luxe feel - something fun yet minimalistic and sophisticated. She wanted the overall aesthetic to be black with punches of color - like pinks and green - to add some boldness.
So first, we started with the mood board before expanding into the color palette. These were the original options.
She loved the softer pinks in #1 and the dark pink and green from #2. So we combined the two palettes and included a dark pink foil to add some texture.
Next was the logo design.
I provide my clients 3 main concept logos with variations - 9 options in total. You’ll notice that they’re in black in white. I do this for a reason - so that the client doesn’t get distracted by the colors. The focus should be on the actual design when making a decision.
Below are the initial ideas I put together for her.
We narrowed it down to 2.2 above. With the color palette solidified, I showcased various color options for her to choose from (on the left below).
Then we moved onto the alternative logo design (on the right below). The main logo is typically horizontal, and the alternative logo is commonly round. This is to provide a different format that can easily be added in square areas.
Alternative logos are typically used for business cards and social media graphics.
Step 2: Branding Style Board
Then we solidified the rest of the visual brand elements:
Favicon
Paragraph font
Graphic elements
Textures
Here was the final brand style board.
We ended up using #2 from the alternative logo options above for the favicon. This was a perfect fit since it’s typically meant to be very simple with 1-2 letters or a symbol.
For fonts, Audrey and Playfair Display were pulled from the logo. Incorporating Raleway Regular to be used as the paragraph font tied in the minimal look and feel Elise wanted.
I added some minimal graphic elements that could be used on social media graphics, business cards and on the website.
For textures, I found a marble texture that had a hint of pink and a nice geometric pattern.
Step 3: Marketing Collateral
Business card
Once the branding was complete, we moved onto the marketing collateral. First up, the business card options! These are a couple front and back options I provided Elise with.
Social media graphics
I provided Elise with graphics for Facebook and Instagram. Most of these were templates in Canva she could easily change whenever she needed to.
Podcast Cover
Typically my packages include 3 social media platforms. But Elise was launching a podcast (which is amazing and totally worth a listen btw), so we swapped that in.
Here are a few options I put together for her. Since it was important for the text to stand out in a small format, we kept these simple and straightforward.
Step 4: Website Design
Lack of time to actually design her website was a struggle for Elise, and as a multi 6 figure entrepreneur she knew it would be much better to outsource so she can stay in her zone of genius.
Elise’s goals for the website were to have site visitors:
Opt in to her freebie
Book a discovery call
Check out her podcast
Join her Facebook group, where she commonly offered free video trainings and various topics
Because she mainly wanted to grow her email list through her freebie, I included it several times on the homepage - at the top as an announcement, below the first banner image, and in the footer.
You’ll also notice that I highlighted her podcast and Facebook group on the homepage (the latter is cut off in the screenshot below).
Time for some before and after photos!
Below are before and after screenshots of the home and about pages.
Some of the pages above were shortened so they would fit in this post, but you can click below to see the full pages.
Before the official website launch, I checked that her image file names and alt text were optimized for SEO purposes. I also added title tags and meta descriptions to each page, and the latter for each blog post and podcast episode.
Step 4: Website launch
At the end of the project, we hopped on the launch call via Zoom, where I typically do the following:
transfer website ownership
move the domain over to the new website
walk through simple tweaks and changes she and her team can make in the future
I handed over all of the design files, Canva links, and gave her access to my client library of video tutorials.
She was really excited about the launch and I’m so grateful to have worked with her on this project.
Here's what Elise had to say about working with me...
“Previously, my website and branding felt like a project that just kept taking a back seat because I didn't have the time/space for it and I knew how huge it would be.
I was worried about the time/my ability to do this with everything else we have going on in the business, but Lauren’s project management and attention to detail totally solved this hesitation and she made it so easy for me!
The best part about working together was how organized Lauren was with the process, and how well she just nailed infusing me and my business into it with her design eye. I love how she gave clear timelines and assigned me tasks so I didn't have to remember to do anything on my own!
I'm just SO proud of my website now. I love directing people to it. I really feel like it embraces me and my vibe and I feel like my people get to experience me and the work I do just by landing on it.
It truly feels like an extension of me and because of that, I'm so much more likely to share it with others. I love that it matches where the business is at with the level of professionalism that now exists! We've already had a huge increase in opt-ins (and the discovery calls keep flooding in that we may have to close that down soon!).
I loved how Lauren had copywriting as an option to add on - that saved me time wise SO MUCH!
Lauren is an absolute dream to work with and I'm seriously amazed at how easeful she made this process for me on my end with the level of organization and professionalism she brought to it! She went above and beyond with her job.
If you’re thinking of working with Lauren, DO IT. Her design eye and skill for really nailing the vibe of your business combined with her knowledge of practical functionality and what just works conversion wise is second to none. You will not be disappointed. Hire her now.”
View the live website!
Are you looking for a website redesign like Elise?
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