Expressing a company’s soul through design
The mission for Next 10 Ventures, as envisioned to me by the founder when I was first approached about joining the company, was to empower digital creators to build big companies and brands of their own. He wanted digital creators to know that his new company understood their needs and respected their creativity, and that they were there to help them expand their empires through strategic partnerships and not just be passive investors.
I began working at Next 10 Ventures as one of the first few employees, tasked with establishing and leading the Research and Development team. However, I could not idly sit by while the only internet presence was a simple grey ‘contact us’ page, and so I took it upon myself to translate the company’s mission into an outward facing visual identity.
ESTABLISHING THE VISUAL IDENTITY
I started the process through several brainstorming meetings with the CEO and other leadership to learn what mattered most when it came to how to express the company’s values and mission. Through these sessions, we established a focus on the diversity of digital creators, their entrepreneurial spirit and branding expertise, and a preference for educational content over pure spectacle. Lastly, the group recognized that although the company offered funding for creators, it did not want to look or feel like a bland and boring bank or venture capital group.
Armed with a provided logo and color scheme, and a new mental image for the final product, I commissioned two artists to create a set of illustrations that I would use in assembling the corporate website.
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CREATING A MARKETING VIDEO
While I was creating the website, I was told that Next 10 Ventures had become a sponsor for that year’s Streamy Awards. One of the requirements for each sponsor was to submit a 30 second video, and I saw that as an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. I had wanted an animation for the hero section of the website homepage, so I asked the artists that I had hired to create an animated video using the illustrations they had made and a quick script that we had written up (below), as well as a version without text to use for the website.
CREATING THE WEBSITE
I created rough drafts of copy for each page, and worked with my colleagues to finalize the text. Using Wordpress, Elementor Page Builder, and the previously created images, I presented several different layout options to the team before arriving at a final design (below, left). One year later, I was asked to freshen up the website with a lighter design (right).
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Results
Feedback on the website and branding was extremely positive throughout my time at Next 10 Ventures. The cumulative product was instrumental in attracting hundreds of digital creators to apply for incubator programs and for Next 10 Ventures to engage with potential creator business partners. The artwork generated through this project continued to be integral for standardizing internal / external documentation and presentation design.