BUSINESS IDENTITY DESIGN

A good business identity expresses your unique style in a way that jives with your target audience. While this is especially important for socially responsible companies, a solid identity is vital to the marketing efforts of any business. I've helped a number of small businesses get off the ground, and I've helped others to polish their look by making all of their materials become consistent -- from their invoices and shipping labels to their websites and emails. Covering logos, letterhead, business cards, envelopes, office forms and more, here is a quick look at some of the business identity materials I've designed.

SAMPLE #1: WORDGIRL

Client Profile: Sara Lovelady, a.k.a. the infamous "Wordgirl," is a long-time copywriting professional who caters specifically to the needs of the natural foods and products industry.

Client Quote: "Verve Man is a life-saver! I needed fabulous, fun graphics for my business that still looked professional and trustworthy. Dune Thomas delivered just the look I was searching for--quickly and for a reasonable price."
-- Sara Lovelady, Wordgirl

Project Challenge: Sara Lovelady needed a business identity that described her services in a clear and memorable way.

Project Solution: We decided a superhero logo was perfect for her. Done correctly, this logo reflects a clean and simple design approach for professional purposes, while still keeping with her playful Wordgirl marketing. To add that extra touch to her business presence, this theme was then applied to her office forms and other visible aspects of her business identity, such as letterhead, invoices, envelopes, etc.

SAMPLE #2: HAWKRIDGE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION

Client Profile: Hawkridge Technologies, Inc. is an emerging company that seeks to meet the IT needs of small to mid-sized businesses who don't want to create their own IT department.

Client Quote: "I like the logo. The site looks really professional. Everything is great. And everybody I show the postcards to just loves them..."
-- Matt L. Downer, CEO

Project Challenge: Hawkridge sought my skills as a designer and marketing consultant to help build the company's identity and bring it to market. We decided a clean professional look was best, but that an element of fun should be thrown in to avoid projecting the common "nerd without social skills" image that often plagues computer administration service professionals.

Project Solution: For the logo I created a stylized capitol H, which made use of a hawk image in order to build a visual tie-in with the Hawkridge name. All business forms, letterhead, cards, etc. were done in a very straight-forward fashion. We reserved the whimsical elements to the site and the mailings to underscore that the fun was not at the expense of efficiency or professionalism.

SAMPLE #3: DR. AMY COOPER, D.H.S. ~ LOVE YOUR SEX LIFE

Client Profile: A bit of a pioneer, Dr. Amy Cooper, D.H.S. (Doctor of Human Sexuality) helps individuals to improve their sex life and overcome the physical, mental, and emotional roadblocks surrounding this somewhat taboo subject in our culture.

Project Challenge: Dr. Cooper wanted a sensual look and feel to her business. She also wanted a logo that wasn't "gender-role-specific."

Project Solution: Choosing very warm colors and an array of digital lighting effects, I created a set of business materials that directly captured the look and feel she wanted. For the logo, I chose stylized figures that could be interpreted as either male of female. Dr. Cooper wanted to find a way to incorporate a few Rodin painting images. I choose to soften and mute the images as well as taint the colors so that they would fit the design style.