Reliable Associated Staffing
Brand and Web Design
Project Overview
Brand and website design for clients in the healthcare staffing industry, who are starting a new business. Showcasing clients' personal brand and mission through a customized website and printed marketing materials (business cards and flyers).
Goals
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Create a mission-driven, value-based brand and website that highlight Reliable Associated Staffing’s commitment to improving healthcare in their community.
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Target design to two audiences: Healthcare providers/facilities and CNAs/caregivers.
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Incorporate clients' visual style preferences into logo, website, business cards, and flyers, while aligning with mission, values, and voice/tone.
Background
Reliable Associated Staffing is a new healthcare staffing business based in the Seattle Metro area. I primarily worked with one of the owners, Veva, but her business partner, Joy was consulted throughout and joined us during several meetings. My clients have years of experience in the healthcare industry, and this brand/web design played a big part in the launch of their business.
My Role
Brand & Web Designer, Project Manager
Team
Brand & Web Designer, Client: Reliable Associated Staffing
Tools
Squarespace, Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Canva, Google Suite, Zoom, Jira
Timeline
12 weeks, including onboarding
Design Process
Discover
Define
Ideate
Design & Build
Test & Handoff
Discover
Onboarding & Project Kick-Off
I met with business owners, Veva and Joy to discuss the goals for their brand and web design project. They were looking for:
BRAND STRATEGY
​Company mission​
Brand values
BRAND DESIGN
​Logo Design
Style Guide
WEB DESIGN​
​Squarespace site
SEO/domain set-up
PRINT DESIGN​
​Business Cards
Flyers
Target Audience
We discussed their target audience, which consisted of two types of users: CNAs/healthcare workers and healthcare providers/facilities (specifically mental health, elderly, bereavement, hospice, and short/long term residential care) in the Seattle Metro area.
Behind the Brand
Veva and Joy described their main purpose as promoting high-quality healthcare services to their community, with a focus on healthcare staffing. Behind their brand, was a strong focus on service, diversity, inclusion, and patient care. Although Veva was my main point of contact for the brand and web design, she always consulted with Joy and made sure she was included in the meetings. It was clear how important their partnership was and I kept this in mind while working on their brand.
service
diversity
inclusion
patient care
Define & Ideate
Creating a Mission Driven Website
Reliable Associated Staffing is a mission-driven business that is dedicated to improving health and wellness in their community. We wanted to emphasize this throughout the website, but also through a couple strategically placed statements (headlines) on the website.
Headline
Creating healthier communities through high-quality healthcare staffing.
Mission Statement
To improve the quality of life for patients and families through quality care, community resources, and wrap-around services.
Showcasing Brand Values
After learning more about Veva’s and Joy’s business during the project kick-off meeting and from their onboarding questionnaire, 4 key values emerged, which were incorporated into the final website design. These values aligned with and furthered their mission of improving quality of life and supporting healthy communities.
Patient Care
You can count on us to hire talented healthcare professionals who are dedicated to providing compassionate and excellent patient care.
The Logo -> A Symbol of Partnership
I created a logo that symbolized the partnership of Veva and Joy. Veva requested a logo that included both of their initials. She was inspired by the look/feel of Louis Vuitton and asked that the logo include black and gold colors. I drew and vectorized the letters and used them as a mask against a gold gradient for a polished look.
Logo inspiration from client
Final logo
Color Palette
Minimalist and classic color palette, per client request: black, gray, white, with touches of gold in the logo and graphics.
Typograhpy
Clean and classic fonts were chosen to support the color palette.
Headline 1
Headline 2
Headline 3
Headline 4
EB Garamond, regular, 75
EB Garamond, regular, 55
EB Garamond, regular, 26
Open Sans, bold, 16
Body 1
Body 2
Body 3
Open Sans, regular, 20
Open Sans, regular, 16
Open Sans, regular, 14
Highlighting Diversity, Inclusivity, and Community Through Imagery
Per client request, I carefully selected images including people from diverse cultures and age groups, highlighting the interaction between the CNAs (caregivers) and their patients. I also found photographs that showcased the long-term benefits of Reliable Associated Staffing’s services by showing happy and healthy families enjoying their time together.
The Challenge of Unifying Brand, Written Content, & Visuals
Although my clients were happy with their logo and requested minimal changes (other than switching the placement of the V and J), it was challenging unifying the visual brand with the written content and industry. Healthcare is usually associated with blues and cool/neutral colors, but my clients clearly stated that they wanted a luxury look/feel.
Additionally, incorporating photographs of caregivers and patients so they didn’t clash with the colors/fonts was tricky. I accomplished this through using the gold color sparingly and intentionally to highlight the high-quality nature of their services.
Design & Build
Website Build
I built the website in Squarespace. My client and I discussed this during onboarding and she wanted a user-friendly web platform that would be easy for her and Joy to maintain (at least in terms of the account and administration) themselves. The site consists of 4 pages and focuses on mission and values. Since Reliable Associated Staffing is a new business, we didn’t go in depth into their process, other than having caregivers and healthcare providers contact Veva and Joy for more information.
Printed Materials Design
Veva and Joy planned to hand out printed materials as part of their marketing strategy and requested business cards and flyers. I incorporated their brand including logo, colors, and graphics to create a consistent design throughout.
Incorporating Feedback
After finishing the first round of the website, business cards, and flyers, I submitted the business card/flyer files and website for review. My clients didn’t request any changes other than revising contact information on their materials. Discussing and agreeing on the style, colors, and logo early on helped this part go smoothly.
Test & Handoff
The Website Transfer Process
Veva and I met virtually so I could help her purchase a domain name, sign up for a website plan, and handover ownership of the site to her. We walked through everything together and successfully completed all steps during our meeting. My client was satisfied knowing that everything related to her account was taken care of and that I was still able to access her site for the support period.
Support & Testing
I offered my clients a 2 week support period in which I implemented Search Engine Optimization (SEO), tested links and forms, answered follow up questions, and requested that Google index their site, which helped them appear in the search results after a few days.
We did run into a challenge as my clients were concerned that they weren’t ranking in the top results nationally for their industry. I explained more about how the search results worked, and we agreed to try to ranking locally, especially given the focus on in-person services.
Final Thoughts
It was wonderful working with Veva and Joy and getting their website and printed materials ready for their business launch. The brand strategy and design were an important part of this project and I’m happy that I was able to create a consistent look/feel across their printed and digital materials.
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Integrating the written content with the visual style was the most challenging part of the project, but also a great learning experience. It helped to explore subtle ways of incorporating the gold & black into the design as well as thinking about the psychology behind the colors being used.
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The 2 week support period was especially useful for my clients. It allowed me to support them in getting their domain name, making sure their site was live w/ no technical issues, as well as implementing SEO and checking their site for indexing in Google.
