Role
Naming
Creative Strategy
Stakeholder Engagement
Copywriting
Role
Naming
Creative Strategy
Stakeholder Engagement
Copywriting
BEFORE – Print Execution and Website
Over 15 years, Hammer + Hand had established a reputation as Portland’s leading contractor for historic renovation, fine home-building and remodeling, and as a trailblazer in environmentally responsible construction. Their craftspeople are master executors of complex design; they’re renowned for their exacting attention to detail. Yet their gorgeous, tactile work was buried in a website designed around their print ads: boxes within boxes that created a kaleidoscopic effect. In print, it was beautiful, emotive even. But on the website their portfolio felt hidden. The navigation was restrictive and constrained. The copy didn’t properly tell the story of who they are.
AFTER – Website
During the Brand Discovery Process, I asked Sam and Daniel a simple set of questions. Their answers yielded insights that revealed the essence of what they do and why they do it. Collaboratively, we clarified their vision. I helped them articulate the core tenets and beliefs they knew they’d always operated on but had never put down on paper.
The Brand Discovery Process produced a set of living documents that articulated Sam and Daniel’s shared outlook for the company. It described how they wanted to diversify their practice and outlined long-term goals for what was to be achieved. The documents also provided much of the copy for their new site. These documents help Sam, Daniel and their employees focus day-to-day on the core of what they do and why they do it. It aligns their practices, outlooks, views, goals, ethos, and standards into a singular vision that points them in the right direction.
Hammer + Hand had recently renovated an old building into a stunning new headquarters that reflected their environmentally responsible design and construction interests. While assembling their portfolio, I saw the broad array of beautiful, architecturally significant and cutting-edge homes they’d built and remodeled in Portland. It was critical that their website—and all their marketing—reflect the breadth and depth of their design and execution standards as epitomized in their portfolio and executed in their new office space.
I introduced Sam and Daniel to Kevin Peoples of WeClik Media. Kevin partnered with Hammer + Hand’s graphic designer, Steve Birch of Servo Graphics (who had designed Hammer + Hand’s original identity years ago) to create a pliable web presence that showcases their work. Steve collaborated with Sam and Daniel to create a new look and feel that pairs Hammer + Hand’s unique groundedness in the preservation of historical building practices with its forward trajectory as one of the foremost leaders in energy conservation and environmentally responsible building techniques. Using Kevin’s SEO expertise, the site now drives search traffic based on keywords that Hammer + Hand can use for the rest of its marketing efforts. Traffic to the site doubled in the first quarter after launching.