Kim, a registered psychologist, connected with me via Instagram. She provides services within a safe, supported, and nurturing environment where healing connection can facilitate exploration, adaption, and growth. She works with two very different and unique ideal clients, so we felt the need to speak to both of them equally in her branding without turning off either type of client - on the one hand, many of her clients are older women who are now ready to focus on their healing, and many others are younger men who are reassured by her more edgy physical appearance.
When chatting with Kim, I quickly realized that the “Stable” in the brand name has a dual meaning - she is in the process of undergoing certification in Equine Facilitated Mental Health to be able to add to her roster of services so we designed a logo for her brand with a play on words: “stable grounding” and gave her options with and without the horse. This way, she won’t need a new brand designed in a few years and can instead evolve her brand when she feels ready. Right now, the pasture and treescapes are the versions she’ll mainly be using, then as her brand grows and evolves Kim can use the brand items with the horses pictured.
In order to offer her brand flexibility, I designed a brand that can grow with her, including an alternate logo with the interlocking S and G initials. Kim has many options she can use on her letterhead and as a watermark on her social media graphics in the future. Wondering what we designers do with all these extra alternate logos? Check the website footer!
Represented beautifully in her newly designed brand suite is the duality between masculine and feminine elements within Kim’s therapeutic mindset. When we first got on a video chat to discuss possibilities for her brand, she described natural colours reminiscent of a pasture or forest. Once we were officially working together, that colour palette unfolded to feature greens, earth tones, and small elements of a dark and moody mauve. With minimal font requirements of something easy to read, I started browsing on Creative Market (my favourite pastime) for fonts that evoked safety, respect, and unity to align with Kim’s brand values and core desired feelings for her clients. In the end, we chose a strong serif that feels very grounded and masculine, along with a forward-leaning script to represent growth and bring in that feminine element.
On the About page, there are several unique features like the alternate logo being used a section background, and a feature of “I Don’t” and “I Do” which clearly speaks to Kim’s ideal client. Kim’s bio section has a unique design with a background created in Canva with some overlapping colours and design elements. Near the bottom of the page is a feature highlighting Kim’s credentials which is the norm on therapists' websites, along with trust badges, another common website feature for registered therapists to demonstrate their credentials. A neat feature at the footer of the page allows her clients to start their telepsychology appointment directly from her site instead of having to search for it in their email confirmation.
Kim has a large number of different session types with information describing each session along with some videos so on the Services page we embedded YouTube video links to further explain techniques and strategies that she offers. Video is an amazing feature because it increases SEO ranking as visitors interact longer on your website. Similarly, the FAQ page features a custom-coded dropdown so Kim’s clients can interact with the page to learn more about her sessions, get resources, and access other health and wellness services.
The highlighted text feature on the Resources page provides useful information to her clients and makes it easy to read. This custom-coded feature helps distinguish between the different sections of information on this Squarespace website. Kim offers her clients appointments in different locations so the Book A Session page links to her Jane app which features her branding colours for a seamless client experience.
Working on Kim’s Squarespace website to get her business started on the right foot was a dream!
When Kim was asked about her experience she shared:
“ Working together invited me to consider reflecting on the differences between my preferences and my target audience’s preferences and how to balance both in a congruent manner. The work together also reinforced the importance of forming a small business identity that has me feeling grounded and anchored to a physical place/surroundings as opposed to an aesthetic in my mind. I can now tap into an embodied experience of my brand when I look at the branding imagery. As for the website, I trusted in your wisdom. I am in love with the statement you picked to place on the About page! Thank you so much for your efforts! The feel of this website has me so encouraged and excited - I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciated all your hard work on this project.”
Are you a psychologist or therapist wanting to attract aligned clients? Let’s talk about your branding hopes and dreams and how we can grow your business - connect with me on Instagram!
