A great example of Management Consultancy brand and web design

I’ve been thinking lately about what management consultants do. My conclusion wasn’t a particularly revolutionary one: namely that ultimately a good consultancy will ensure that the right people are in the right place in a business, so it works and grows in the most effective way. But this idea – of talented people being at the heart of ensuring a business works better – particularly struck me while we were completing a project for AlgoMe Consulting. They have spent the past couple of years building an online platform that matches people with career opportunities, mentoring relationships and the kind of professional networking events that can be so effective in business life. Our brief from AlgoMe was to build on this, creating a management consultancy brand and web design project – utilising the creative work from the platform and defining them as a standalone business.

WHO ARE ALGOME CONSULTING…?

Our work on the AlgoMe Consulting brand project began with the logo for the recruitment platform – which existed before our involvement. Our brief was to retain the sharp lines and clear, bold colours of that design and build a separate brand.

However before we began with creative work we took part in a brainstorming workshop which helped the management team at AlgoMe define what brand they wanted to establish. This exercise was enlightening and meant we got to know them much better than we often have the opportunity to. Essentially it set us free to go a little further than we might have with another consultancy.

They wanted the overall look to be distinctive and memorable – the design had to back that up.

We decided to use the central icon throughout our work, letting it inspire our use of graphics and photography to build a unique set of assets for AlgoMe. As we had began our work with the brand concept and web design, following those dual creative processes meant a wide range of graphics were then available for practical everyday use.

One of which is, of course… PowerPoint. It’s a piece of software tool that often elicits groans from design companies, but ultimately it’s the most widely used presentation software. We see making PowerPoint work well as a challenge. It’s a matter of providing a design which is both workable and visually appealing. A couple of our sample slides and work on colours is below.

The few PowerPoint basics for AlgoMe Consulting – a great example of a Management Consultancy brand and web design project

ESTABLISHING A DISTINCTIVE LOOK ONLINE

During an intense period of creative work after the brand workshop, we devised a photographic language for AlgoMe Consulting that meant they could choose imagery which felt part of a family and echoed the orange colour we had identified as the primary palette tone for the business.

Their copy also led the way – the idea of avoiding ‘painting by numbers’ made us imagine an unfussy, bold stripe across the entire page. So a range of simple, iconic objects – paint rollers, sharp pencils and a magnifying glass – followed.

The website for AlgoMe Consulting – a great example of a Management Consultancy brand and web design project

The core of this website is a series of eight case studies describing AlgoMe Consulting’s work – one that also sets out their approach to their clients.

Having spent some time expanding the use of the original AlgoMe icon, we began to look at ways in which the circles could be used throughout these pages, hinting at the subject matter. These elegant, playful icons echo the wry touch established with the paint roller and continue to implement the brand’s personality that we had established during the brand workshop.

The website for AlgoMe Consulting – a great example of a Management Consultancy brand and web design project

OUR TAKE ON MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY BRAND AND WEB DESIGN

I appreciate that the colourful, graphic approach isn’t something every management consultancy would consider right for them – but in a nutshell, for me that’s the point.

AlgoMe say at the outset, ‘we’re different’, ‘we don’t paint by numbers’ and so on. Their brief to us essentially requires that we should provide a design approach that does those things too.

What makes our work interesting is its diversity. For every unusual brief like AlgoMe we have requests for a more corporate design approach. For instance executive search firm Fraser Giles Partnership, legal firm Freedman+Hilmi or real estate investment practice Mansford.

Yet what’s interesting about all these projects is that they have a unique personality – which I regard as the hallmark of any successful business.

It turns out, it really is all about the people.

The website for AlgoMe Consulting – a great example of a Management Consultancy brand and web design project

COULD THIS APPROACH BE RIGHT FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

Find out more about our work for AlgoMe and other financial services businesses:

Visit the AlgoMe Consulting website

More about the AlgoMe Consulting project

More about our work on financial services web design