Authentic Alex

Authentic Alex (who has been named as a Linkedin Top Voice) approached us to update her brand image as she was pivoting her focus and wanted to align her image more with her intended direction of travel.

As usual we conducted a great deal of research, with market analysis, competitor analysis and interviews with past, present and prospective clients – along with a few hours of conversation with Alex herself.  We always try to gain as full a picture of our clients, their vision, and the strength and weaknesses of their brand position before we start any creative work. It’s always our desire to have as deep an understanding of our clients and their businesses as we possibly can.

Sharing the results of our research is often a real eye opener for our clients – sometimes it can be a difficult exchange, but Alex fully embraced the process. She’s very self-aware, but still you never know what might touch a nerve with someone.

Alex was genuinely interested in the perceptions and reflections of our interviewees. What elements of her story and presentation had connected with them? What did they most value in her work? Why would they rebook or recommend her – and indeed in what circumstances would they look elsewhere? This research aspect of our process always helps to clarify our thought process and form the foundation for the work we create going forward. After the research we agreed a design brief together, considering what the key aspects to concentrate on were – what aspects of the existing brand and messaging were helpful, and also what was best left behind.

Next we did our visual concept generation work: creating concept designs that explored different ways of presenting the identified key aspects that needed to be more instantly recognisable and understood by her target audience for Authentic Alex to move forward.

Presenting ideas back to clients can often be interesting. Ideally, we look for a definite ‘yes’ moment. Alex warmed to one of the first ideas shown – but then suddenly the ‘yes’ came. It was an entirely different design and approach from her previous favourite, but this was the one that she instinctively connected with.

Any branding needs to be authentic – and a strong, almost visceral reaction is great, but also the brand needs to connect with the target audience properly also. So further testing of her preferred concept was then undertaken. We tested the selected design with her market to ensure everything was connecting and delivering the intended message in the right way.

The final design is obviously an amalgamation of the double A of Authentic Alex and an arrowhead. Working in the Linkedin arena, the inference of a computer cursor within the design is no accident.

Red was already strongly associated with her brand but we expanded the colour palette to add more depth and variety. Red is a warm colour, it’s energetic and can be provocative. It commands attention.  The inclusion of the secondary deeper red hue adds depth and brings in ideas of maturity like a good red wine. Purple is often associated with refinement and sophistication, with hints of spirituality – all reflecting the person behind the brand well.

We created a bold business card designed across the diagonal axis of a square card – which is highly distinctive and impactive. Alex instantly understood the power of having such an individual card that marked her out as different.

We went on to create a full-colour palette with accent and complementary colour combinations and a set of power-point slides for her to present from.

Time and budget restraints limited what we could do but the basic guidelines we created have meant Alex has taken our brand framework and run with it, which is a pleasure to see.