Mark has been a long-time partner, so when we approached me to help him work on his personal brand, I was very excited. He's got a very genuine smile, and that carries through into everything he does. His brand was a great one to flesh out together!
Creating a brand
Every brand project always starts with working on core principles and identifying some customers of the brand. Or, as I like to call them: Your heroes. The heroes of your brand.
Neeedle has a strong human focus, and a warmth to the way Mark engages with his heroes. For this, we went with a rich blend of red and blues (which also pays homage to the existing brand we were revamping), but elevated it to a more complex set of tones.
The other elements, like typeface and "neeedle" element on the "l", bring a playfulness into the brand. The lettering is generally quite round, but a pronounced and unique point on the "n" keeps a sharpness to accentuate the slogan, "pinpoint your edge".
Building a website
From there, we needed to build a site that kept the elements we identified in the brand.
The colour scheme worked out great for the contrast we needed on the various web page components. We wanted to keep it quite simple, because Mark needs to get people on a call at the end of the day, and we cannot make his heroes do work. It should be like cutting through butter with a hot knife for them.
Easy navigation
Right at the top, we guide people based no his two services. Each service has a short page to itself, with some more information on it, but right at the top is a CTA that lets people book a call there and then if they'd like to. Further the down the home page is simply testimonials, past projects, and another CTA, in that order. We opted for letting his work do the talking, then try to fill the page with self-written and self-aggrandising copy.
Graphic elements
On each service page, is a short process banner with some graphic elements to fit the brand. The beauty of these is how simple, whimsical, yet professional they look. They're inviting in and of themselves, and make the entire experience feel playful — which is a key feature of Mark's training and consulting. He uses games and interactive workshops to do his work, and I really wanted that to come across in the feel of the website.
All-in-all, this project was a great example of how little you need to do something very effective. Thanks Mark! Hope to work together again soon :)
