Thematic brainstorming and writing (top). mood board (bottom) consisted of links to live websites for the purpose of observing interactions, as well as screenshots to quickly observe mood.

The art direction process began with writing and storytelling exercises to discover and solidify the studio’s identity and values, conducted simultaneously with an audit of competitor websites and the collection of creative and aesthetic inspiration.

Art direction ideas were presented in a slide show format to demonstrate viability and flexibility. With each approach, I explored the different ways of balancing the aesthetics of “formality and confidence” with “boldness and experimentation.”

I challenged myself to remain playful in this phase. The result was a healthy smattering of ideas which demonstrated the versatility of our chosen values.

I turned winning ideas into web page mock-ups using Adobe Illustrator in order to demonstrate viability, and to get to know each aesthetic on a more concrete and personal level in preparation for building out the style guide.* Bi-weekly critiques and feedback sessions were well underway during this phase, informing the final product.

Deliverables included a functioning style guide, web page wire frames, and updated word mark and business cards.

Old Lockups

New Lockups

I explored Will+Way’s existing personality by examining and retooling their previously designed word mark, logo, and business card, which represented the extent of their existing visual identity. I worked closely with Nik Amar, the company’s founder, discussing what we believed did and didn’t work.

Honing the logo and word mark proved a critical early step. The observations and nonverbal feelings explored in this stage informed the rest of the project.

Some Changes

Aesthetic principles were solidified and codified into a design document, reviewed, and passed off to the studio.

The final website was constructed by the company owner via webflow after my tenure with Will+Way expired, using my documents as a guide. You can visit it here, if you like!