Newly formed architects Cove Burgess recently approached us for help in refining its identity and creating a website. Both partners wanted the identity and collateral to reflect their approach to architecture, ie. pared back, stylish and ‘less is more’. Similarly, they felt that the website should be used to reinforce their credentials for contacts they had already met, rather than it pulling in new business from first time visitors. They wanted it to simply and quickly whet the appetite of any potential clients and leave them wanting more. They imagined it as a ‘second date’ website – a good way of putting it!
Following this thinking, the identity needed to be simple and understated yet sophisticated. The use of Optima fitted the mix of modern and traditional whilst the differentiation of ‘Cove’ from ‘Burgess’ through two tones of grey created a stylish, pared back identity. The use of foil printing on the business cards reinforced the high-end, luxury feel and set the benchmark for follow up collateral.
We created the website in Wordpress CMS using a custom designed theme. Throughout the project we had to resist the urge to add too many 'common' website elements such as news pages and blogs etc that would perhaps improve SEO or more obvious 'calls to action', but would also depart from the extremely minimal and unique cornerstone we agreed upon at the outset.
The site structure was reduced to the point where only essential information was retained and the homepage features a simple horizontal menu (styled in the brand font) and large image carousel. The case studies page was paired down to just six key projects and a very concise description for each. Whilst both simple in style and in use, the site was created to be as easy to update as possible by the client should they wish to do so.
Cove Burgess are extremely pleased with the website and refreshed identity. Partner Timothy Burgess, said:
"Our approach is to make our clients lives easier; taking their complex projects and deliver them with the minimum of fuss. To the point got this immediately, which is not really surprising, as they do the same thing. The brand and the website are both simple and clear, exactly as it should be!"
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