With a fun, energetic approach, Fagan Kennedy photographs weddings in the Southeast. Upon connecting on Instagram and discussing the goals of her business, we discussed the possibility of a brand nurture week. Her modern brand design and Showit website turned out beautifully, I’m thrilled to share!
Fagan is a wedding and lifestyle photographer documenting your realest smiles and sweetest moments. Bouncing between St. Simons Island and Atlanta, Georgia she provides a memorable photography experience that helps her clients feel at ease and natural.
Working with clients that you truly align with makes the world of difference. Fagan and I have so much in common making this process even more fun! We both graduated from the same college (Go Bobcats!) and served as YoungLife leaders – small world, much? Enough about me, let’s get into it!
A Closer Look at the Process
Fagan was the second beta tester for Brand Nurture Week. Just like Lucy Munoz, I designed Fagan’s brand AND website in one week. Upon two trial runs, I decided to break up the brand and website creating the brand nurture week to focus solely on the brand and a website in a week as a separate service.
Despite designing both in the same week, I was still able to establish a strong visual brand identity and website presence. Read more about the Brand Nurture week process here.
The Why Behind Fagan Kennedy
Before we jump into the design, let’s take a look at the why behind this project. Successful design is backed by strategy and meaning. In order to plan and develop a brand, it is imperative to take a deeper look into yourself, your business, and your audience. By reflecting on these three things, you can develop your core values, vision, brand personality, and ideal audience demographics. Establishing these important pieces of your business sets the foundation for your brand visuals. During the design process, I always refer back to the strategy to ensure I design a brand that converts.
Fagan’s Core Values Include:
- Comfortability — Having experience in wedding photography, Fagan is uniquely qualified to offer a relaxing environment. She ensures a level of comfort that her customers value and trust.
- Passion — She is passionate about making her client’s experiences memorable – both through her welcoming personality and timeless photographic style.
- Respect — She makes sure her clients feel respected when it comes to their privacy, goals, beliefs, and desires. This builds a trust factor when working with a professional photographer
- Inclusion — Fagan wants her clients to know that she is inclusive to all types of clients. She doesn’t put limits on places or people for her sessions.
The Pain Point
One of Fagan’s biggest pain points was her inaccessibility because of her lack of brand and website. In the beginning stages of her business, she needed to begin marketing herself with confidence. Fagan’s lack of brand visuals, particularly a website, compromised professionalism and hindered a seamless client process.
The Solution
With a quick turnaround time and lower price point, Brand Nurture Week was the perfect solution for her.
As a new business owner, we started completely from scratch. I sent a questionnaire to gather all the juicy details I need to design an impactful brand that resonates with her and her clients. From her answers, our discovery call, and my own personal research, I built her strategy and creative direction.
From there, I designed brand visuals that are in line with her why, allowing her to form deeper, impactful connections. Fagan is packed with personality and kindness, so I infused her brand with fun approachability completely unique to her!
Color Palette
This color palette draws inspiration from cool tones that can be found in textiles, florals, heirloom imagery, and art. It’s creative and fun. These colors have an energetic and fresh feeling, forming deeper connections with your clients.
Fagan’s Logo Suite
Small memorable details throughout the logo allow her to stand out and represent the detail and quality she puts into her work. The main logotype is a customized serif typeface that holds qualities of uniqueness, detail, and freshness. This direction is creative and inspiring.
The main logotype is a funky stylized serif with memorable details that allows her to stand out and set a strong foundation for the future of her business. Pairing this unique serif style with a crisp, clean sans serif for ‘photography’ balances the design.
Logo Variations
Logo variations enable you to apply your brand consistently. For example, Fagan’s stacked logo is more square in shape fitting well on stationery such as a business card, as well as on social media.
Type Hierarchy
Fonts are a great way to maintain brand consistency. Use the same font hierarchy on your website and social media. Maintaining the same titles, headings, subheadings, and paragraph fonts enhance your professionalism and trustworthiness.
Fagan’s type hierarchy is modern, fun, and unique. A clean sans serif for titles and accent text paired with a serif typeface with personality supports her logo suite well.
Pattern Design
Fagan’s personality is a large part of her client process and photography experience. Patterns are a great way to add unique detail and personality to a brand. So, I pulled out Procreate on my iPad and got to work. I incorporated her brand colors and hand-drew greenery and floral accents. The illustrative style is inspired by the south, specifically St. Simons Island and Atlanta.
Showit Website
Website in a week includes a Showit or Squarespace template customization. Starting with a template saves the time that a fully custom website takes.
Fagan and I met and strategized which template was best for her business. Because she shoots mostly in portrait orientation, it was important to select a design that displays vertical images in the layouts. Her brand truly came alive on her website built with the Martini Tonic template on the Showit platform.
If you’re unsure which template is a fit for your business, I’m more than happy to walk you through choosing the perfect fit. I am relaunching my Showit template shop by the end of the summer. If you’re interested in staying up to date and receive saving opportunities, subscribe to my newsletter list to be the first to know when they launch.
Final Results of the Modern Brand Design and Showit Website for Fagan Kennedy
