What Valerie Needed 

After 20 years working inside organizations, Valerie was preparing to venture out as a professional development coach and business owner when she reached out to me for help with her website. It was clear she had a lot of passion for her the new offerings she was developing, and she needed help creating a strong brand story and visual style that matched her warm yet business-professional approach. She had a clear idea of who she wanted to work with and how she wanted to support them, but she needed help translating her passion and expertise into her website copy and an authentic design.

How I Approached the Project

During our intake interviews, Valerie offered the idea of a “spark” or “burst” as a design element to represent her offerings and unexpected spunk that she brings. I decided to go with a clean, understated color palette that featured a pop of bright orange: smart, sophisticated, business-appropriate, but also fun. The logo we co-created featured the burst image, and we used it as a unifying design element throughout the site. For her website copy, I focused on clarity: it was important that Valerie not be confused with a career coach or recruiter. We had to make sure her unique offerings made sense to folks and fully reflected her expertise.