Headway: a transformative brand refresh and digital elevation
Headway, a digital product studio specializing in design, software development, and product strategy for B2B SaaS founders and product leaders, reached a pivotal moment in its growth. The target industries had evolved, the services messaging sometimes missed the mark, and the visual identity remained untouched since its inception in 2015. Thus, a brand refresh was initiated to realign the organization's identity with its evolved state and future ambitions.
BEFORE & AFTER
Headway's evolution
This comparison captures the changes made in typography, color, and overall layout/presentation. The first video (old site) is a little more blocky, visually congested, and reflects some of the old brand elements. The second video (new site) feels more consistent, interactive, and reflects the updated brand elements.
STRATEGY
Brand strategy workshop
I developed and facilitated a figjam-based brand strategy workshop involving key Headway stakeholders to officially kickoff the brand refresh effort. The session involved revisiting and revising Headway's mission, vision, values, and positioning strategy, alongside analyzing its brand personality. This exercise was pivotal in distilling the updated positioning statements and key brand personality adjectives that shaped the trajectory and goals of the brand refresh.
The strategy effort also included updating the IA, creating content models for all anticipated site changes, and a thorough CMS plan.
"Angie is a design power house. Her process and deliverables are creative, iterative and high quality. While at Headway, she made a big impact. She pioneered a brand design process that we executed on both in-house and clients projects. She led a large website re-design initiative with minimal help. Additionally, she created a design system for our marketing team that improved efficiency across all in-house projects."
Breanna Clemens
Design Lead, Headway
DESIGN
Visual identity & updates
Post workshop, we solidified our look and feel adjectives as modern, functional, bold, charismatic, energetic, and vibrant. Each adjective was then mapped to specific design and UI elements to translate these intangible qualities into tangible aspects of design. This alignment laid the groundwork for the brand’s refreshed visual identity.
I distilled each of the six look & feel pillar adjectives into tangible design elements to ensure alignment. "Vibrant" can be interpreted in many different ways, so assigning specific design elements to each pillar adjective was an easy way to communicate intentions and secure visual consistency.
Our exploration phase involved conducting a competitive analysis and creating various moodboard options to visualize the brand’s refreshed look and feel. This step was integral in understanding the market landscape and ensuring our refreshed brand stood out from the competition while resonating with our target audience.
Visual exploration led us to choose Roc Grotesk and DM Sans as our updated typefaces, blending modernity with functionality. We addressed past accessibility issues by transitioning our brand teal to a secondary color and introducing a punchy green as our primary brand color, adding energy and vibrance to our palette.
We decided to retain a nod to the brand’s origins by incorporating subtle nautical elements in our visuals. This included the addition of a gradient topography visual as our primary brand pattern.
SYSTEMS
Marketing design system
I developed an in-house design system for marketing assets and the company site, opting for a block-based nuclear design system approach that maximizes the flexibility of individual components and site blocks.
BUILD
Site redesign & build
A comprehensive review and revision of the site's information architecture were conducted to instate a more systematic and structured approach.
The newly refreshed Headway 3.0 design system laid the foundation for the complete redesign of our company website. The website, boasting over 70 pages, was meticulously built in Webflow using a client-first structure that prioritized responsiveness, speed, and overall functionality.
The custom block-based system, translated into Webflow, not only facilitated a seamless user experience but also empowered collaborators to swiftly create or revise pages, significantly reducing the time required from days to just minutes.
Conclusion
This comprehensive brand refresh and system build have positioned Headway as a modern leader in the digital product studio landscape, ready to help its clients navigate the ever-evolving seas of the digital world with precision, strategy, and style.