Gail’s existing branding wasn’t really suitable for her new business clients. She wanted something that spoke to her target audience, reflected her style and values, and was ‘business-y’ enough to put in front of an MD.

She needed a visual consistency across her stationery, website, social media channels and MailChimp forms, that reflected the experience of being with her in person. Getting the copy right was going to be key – she speaks from the heart and follows her intuition when working with clients, so it needed to sound fresh and full of her personality to attract the kind of clients who are comfortable with her style.

Time. With clients already lined up, Gail had to produce official paperwork in a matter of days. That meant a logo and visual identity that ticked all the boxes while leaving room for the other aspects of her brand that were still being finalised.

Competition. It’s not hard to find a business coach in Edinburgh. There are a lot of them around, catering to businesses of all shapes and sizes. None of them is quite like Gail though. When she asked clients for three words to describe her, the number one response was “FUN!”. Her branding and website had to reflect that she’s not your ‘typical’ corporate wannabe business coach in a grey suit, yet still convey the expertise and innate talent she has for getting to the nub of the issue.

Fortunately, I know Gail pretty well. We’ve worked together before so I already had a good idea of what would work for her and what wouldn’t. Extra fortunately, she’d done a lot of work over the holiday period and knew exactly who her key target client was. After a long chat about how she saw the business working, the kind of clients she wants to win, and what the family did over Christmas, I set to work to build a concept. I normally send through all three concepts together, so clients can pick between them, but because we were pushed for time I sent the first one as soon as I finished it. Just as well – we’d nailed it first time.

A matter of days later, with all her stationery sorted, we moved on to the website. We’d cracked most of the visual elements of the brand. Now it was time to look at the structure and the content. After much to-ing and fro-ing, with several rewrites and nudges, we had something we’re both delighted with.