Case Study
GUIDING WEALTH VISUAL IDENTITY REFRESH
+ WEBSITE REDESIGN
No more golden retrievers or cashmere sweaters.
As part of its forward-thinking vision to make financial planning more accessible, Guiding Wealth launched a novel residency program, matching financial planners-in-training with clients who can't afford traditional financial planning. The website and branding needed to shift to reflect this new direction. The original website featured stereotypical images associated with financial planning firms —wealthy, older white people lounging on sailboats and walking down the beach.
GRAPHIC IDENTITY BEFORE
THE PROCESS
The Task:
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Rebrand the website to be more inclusive of age, race, and socioeconomic status.
The Constraints:
Achieve this without changing the lighthouse logo or making any drastic alterations to the color palette.
What I Did:
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Theme: The first challenge was to shift the nautical-themed website away from its beachy, leisurely tone while retaining the lighthouse logo. The issue wasn’t the nautical theme itself, but the placid, leisurely imagery that implied, “You’ve arrived. No worries ahead.” I replaced these images with water scenes from cold climates, evoking a sense of striving, work, and adventure. The rallying cry for this rebrand became, “No cashmere sweaters. No golden retrievers.”
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Color Palette: I made strategic changes, expanding the palette beyond the mostly pastel accent colors.
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New Tagline: I crafted a new tagline: “Lighting Your Path.” This reflects the firm’s new mission to guide clients who have never had access to personalized financial planning and to mentor new financial planners. The “your” in the tagline emphasizes the personal, tailored approach that contrasts with generic advice from books or media personalities.
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Images: Alongside cold-water imagery, I incorporated pictures of paths, roads, and images that played with the concept of light—some with light leaks, dramatic sunsets, or Edison bulbs. The images featuring people show diversity in age, life circumstances, and sexual orientation, often depicting them in motion.
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Photos: I arranged a photoshoot for the owner, styling her to emphasize her authority and trustworthiness.
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Copy: I collaborated with Guiding Wealth’s copywriting firm to lay out the website in visually appealing ways, making necessary copy adjustments during the design process.
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THE MOOD BOARD
THE RESULT
​The Guiding Wealth Residency Program is underway and a success! I hope that visitors to the website see themselves represented—whether through the image of 20-somethings around a campfire, the multi-generational family, or the sense of adventure captured by canoes waiting to be rowed.
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Not only is the website redesign beautiful, but every design choice reinforces the new brand promise.
WEBSITE AFTER
SOCIAL MEDIA REFRESH
The original Guiding Wealth social media echoed the “cashmere sweaters and golden retriever” vibe, which we moved away from in the brand refresh. The updated posts featured a bolder, less pastel aesthetic, better representing the firm’s expanded audience and more inclusive approach.
BEFORE
AFTER
