Laurie Erdman website design and re-branding

Time for a change

Laurie is a business, training and human resources leader at a leading education technology company. Her previous website – The Ignite Well-Being Institute – focused on how to avoid burnout and stay healthy in life and the workplace. She decided to switch gears and focus on her role as author and speaker in the corporate field. This meant a massive overhaul of her entire brand.

The old site was build on WordPress using Thesis as the theme. We rebuilt it using Divi from Elegant Themes. New content was created via written, photography and video from Laurie. I worked with Laurie to wireframe the site architecture and create a new style guide that would work for all her media, print or web.

New Logo

A new logo was created to showcase her name as the main brand. She chose the script font. The emblem of the torch carries over a the element of “ignite” from the previous The Ignite Well-Being Institute, and also has a deep, personal meaning to her. The logo was created in multiple forms – full name, just “Laurie”, with or without tagline, and the torch alone – so she has options that look good across all graphics, web or print.

Social Media Images

I don’t just do websites. I also create brand consistency through all channels. I built these graphics – including the profile or avatar image – with the goal of maintaining a sharp, professional look no matter where Laurie is found online. Social Media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+ – are constantly evolving their interfaces and image dimensions. Most business owners don’t want to bother with this, so we do the heavy lifting.

Illustration & Business Cards

One of Laurie’s goals in rebranding and launching a new site was to release a new book she was writing. A hand-drawn illustration of a hamster levitating within a chakra-colored hamster wheel was created to echo the title, “Getting Off the Hamster Wheel.” We also created business cards to echo the new look.

Style Guide

Why have a style guide? Because you may work with other designers down the road and if your branding is important to you, this will act as a roadmap to guide them – and you, as you evolve your business. Fonts, colors, copy style, logo placement – all are covered in this guide and is conveniently located online.