GS Investments

Responsive Web Design

Branding

Print Design

Branding, responsive web design, and print design for this independent, SEC-registered wealth management firm located in downtown Minneapolis, MN.

Team Makeup: Solo freelance work

Project Duration: 13 years (ongoing)

Tools Used: Figma, Sketch, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Squarespace

Site Link: gsinvestments.com

Project Overview

GS Investments was my first client and we have had a working relationship for well over a decade. While this project mainly focuses on the website I most recently created for them, I have done extensive design work for them in the past, including a logo redesign, print work, and two full websites.

The Ask

Brand Refresh

Refresh GS Investments’ identity. This involved:

Refreshing their logo and brand
Designing and building new website that can be easily edited by the client
Redesigning newsletter template that can be easily edited by the client
Creating a new digital marketing brochure that can also be printed

Logo/Brand Refresh

I created a new logo for GS Investments 13 years ago. While the general idea of the logo still worked, there were usability issues at smaller sizes. To address this, I smoothed some of the visuals and made the logo a little more bold to make it a stronger visual on all screen and print sizes.

I also made significant tweaks to the horizontal and square versions of the logo to increase the rigidity of the visuals, making the tone of the brand more confident and powerful.

New LOGOs

OLD LOGOS

→

COLOR PALETTE & Fonts

In retrospect, the colors in the original brand always felt a little disjointed and lacked overall cohesion. To make this flow better together, I darkened their primary blue, added in three new secondary blues, and brought more blue tones into their primary gray. This brought added vibrancy and depth to their color palette.

Similarly, the logo’s font didn’t match the weight of the core mark and didn’t work well outside of the logo. I boldened the logo’s font and added in three additional fonts to the brand.

These changes helped to tie all the elements of the brand together and strengthen the company’s overall identity.

OLD PALETTE

REVISED PALETTE

OLD FONT

NEW ADDITIONAL FONTS

TITLES (WEB)

BODY (WEB)

ALL COPY (CLIENT USE)

Home

HIGHLIGHTS

Highlight of Minneapolis with bold tagline, enticing new clients to inquire about their services
Highlight key differentiators: Client retention, total money under management, and combined team experience
Link out to key pages: Firm Overview and Our Philosophy
Provide access to downloading the most recent newsletter
Newsletter subscription and contact form on each page

Firm Overview

HIGHLIGHTS

Showcase company office
Talk to company history to deepen sense of experience
Individual staff bios to highlight small, personalized team and approach to process