The Making of: Friends4Finance Vision, Brand & Website

Supported by OVERW8 with:

Vision, Polishing the Offer

(Minimal) Branding: Logo, Fonts, Color Palette, Basics

Website

Let’s be…
Friends for Finance

There is a group of financial advisors, a bunch of friends who decided to do things a little, if not very much different than lots of other players in the market are doing it. They possess lots of competence in their very own realm of work – financial advisory – and yet they realized they could do with some external help to shape their vision into something that feels tangible and ready to grow (into) for the next years.

Let’s be…
Friends for Finance

There is a group of financial advisors, a bunch of friends who decided to do things a little if not very much different than lots of other players in the market did. They had lots of competence in their very own realm of work – financial advisory – but realized they could do with some external help to shape their vision into something that feels tangible and ready to grow (into) for the next years.

The Process

How we structured the work process

Briefing by one of the main stakeholders
Trigger questions to be provided to all 6 team members
In-Person Workshop @Berlin (1 day)
Shaped results provided as a conceptual base + conference concept that had been developed ‘on the side’
Brand Design: 3 main approaches, one to be refined
Turn main messages into a website
Provide a Canva based presentation for partner pitches

Facilitated

Strategy Workshop

Low/no hierarchy vs. decision making

When you’re in a team situation, and even more in a non-hierarchical situation, it is crucial to make sure that the vision is really really clear and shared by everyone. There needs to be clarity about the main core content of the vision – as well as about those ‘outer’ corners where one might not agree (yet) and keep them on a parking lot for later. Otherwise, the main risk would be getting stuck.

Find harmony without watering it all down

The workshop day provided the important opportunity to share the diverse perspectives (diverging) but still arrive at a sustainable consensus. This would be of value per se even if brand-building would not have been part of the goal. If everyone knows what you are aiming at, it is much easier for everyone to contribute – especially if you are working remotely and asynchronous mostly.

Branding

The world of financial advisory normally looks like this:

BRANDING

Predicting the future isn’t enough

So it comes as a nice change if a team deliberately intends to approach its branding with the target group and the idea of a fresh start, a new more human approach to its branding.

As nearly always, we provided the client with 3 contrasting choices:

And the winner is….

The grid – about networking connections, being open on the sides
The look in itself with Norwester font: stylish, a bit starting up but still timeless enough
#Funfact The chosen yellow-green indeed was called…

OLD GOLD.

How very fitting, isn’t it?

Yes, website builders are ok

Can we – as pros – really use Squarespace?

Oh yes, you can, and depending on timing, budget, etc. you should.

This is by the way part of how we consult our clients: Not just by standard procedures but as to which tools fit their goals. Here you can see part of our efficient co-creation process on a MIRO board.

Findings-Requirements-and-Brief-6-2048x1152

Tipp!

If you are on a budget, the budget is much better allocated on a good brand strategy, positioning, and basic design than in complex coding or website setups. The former will allow for much more growth and provide much better ROI than a complex page with sh***y / meaningless looks and messages.

INSIGHT

“Ich schreibe Ihnen heute einen langen Brief, für einen kurzen habe ich keine Zeit.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

[Dear friend,

What is the value of a great slogan?

Is it ‘just’ 6 words, the number of letters – or does it equate the interest and business it creates?

Creating a one-page website/landing page – that might sound and look simple, however, it is quite challenging for the reason that you need to boil everything down to the very essence PLUS each visual element becomes so symbolic.

Hint: If you ‘buy’ creative services whether that might be from an agency or a freelancer, always be aware that you do not buy creative assets by the pound – one well-crafted slogan can make (or break) your brand.

setup for success

Up for Inspiring Networking

Being clever

Always one-up our sleeves

When we created the branding, we had our eye on a pretty well-matching presentation slide set on Canva. The team has great plans to set up a cool conference next year and intends to acquire partners… so we suggested providing them with this professional base to get started from.

Ready. Set. Go.

The Next Level? Within Reach.

Tools

Our Tech Stack for this Project

Asana

Workshop Design: GDocs

File Sharing: GDrive

Flexible Whiteboards and Post: Miro

Brand Design: Adobe

Web Design & Development: Squarespace

Ralf Liebetrau

Friends4Finance

OVERW8 conducted a strategy workshop for our association in which we worked out our strategy and business model. After a successful workshop, we were able to work out our branding with the help of OVERW8 and create our website together. A very inspiring collaboration, reliable, creative, supportive – simply top! OVERW8’s experience successfully guided us through difficult decision-making processes (several decision-makers…) and lifted us to the next level. Unreservedly recommendable and good value for money.