In late 2010 Toward were approached by investor relations expert Amanda Bolt to help create a logo, brand style and CMS website for her new venture Amanda Bolt Associates (ABA).
Amanda has over 15 years experience of working for multinational companies in London, and during the last 11 years has worked in the specialist area of investor relations within UK corporate broking at Schroder Securities, Citigroup and most recently Evolution Securities.
Toward were asked to create a fresh and contemporary design style to reflect Amanda's professional background whilst avoiding the clichés often used by big corporate companies.
We started by creating a bold logo for the abbreviation ABA, which is strong, stable and easily recognisable. The colour scheme of cool greens and blues was developed to symbolise balance, calmness and honesty; three qualities needed in an investor relations officer. Once the logo was finalised, the design style was applied to corporate stationery, report and document templates, and customised powerpoint slides.
The next stage of the project was the website. Amanda required a small but beautifully crafted site that she had complete control of. ABA offers services to large Plc organisations and SMEs so we suggested incorporating two separate blogs that could provide up-to-date information and news to both.
For the Content Management System (CMS) we opted for Wordpress, a favourite of ours. Wordpress is the world's leading blogging platform and is easy to use whilst offering a range of powerful features.
The final part of the project was to set up and brand two Twitter accounts as a conversation platform for both target audiences. We provided training on social media and how best to use it and set up live feeds into the website.
Here's what Amanda had to say - "As a small business, getting our brand and messaging right was very important. We were impressed that the team at Toward understood our business and translated it very quickly into the branding, the design of our website and use of social media. We would recommend Toward to anyone requiring a brand (new or refresh) and other communications materials."
Although this was a small project, we had a blast working on it (we think Amanda did too!) It just goes to show - size isn't always everything.
Visit the website at www.amandabolt.com
