McGuire and Hester
Refreshing an Established Company
As a general contractor working in the Bay Area for 90+ years, McGuire and Hester established a name synonymous with quality, integrity, and safety. However, they found themselves in need of a brand identity that visually represented those qualities in a unified marketing presence.
As the Project Manager, I was responsible for creating a brand that resonated with executives deeply established in the construction industry. I also directed a web team to create the website.
*Note: the original heritage lettering logo was not included in this brand update.
Brand Identity | 2019
Deliverables
Marketing Materials
E-mail Marketing
Social Media
Website Design
Industry
Construction Contractor
Drawing on History
I prefer to front-end my design process with copius amounts of research and brainstorming.
While researching and exploring McGuire and Hester's history, I stumbled upon a binder from an estimator in the 1970's that was filled with handwritten notes, sketches, and letters that I used to give the brand a personal touch unique to their company.
Values
- Tradition
- Excellence
- Community
- Quality
- Responsibility
Research
Defining the Space
A competitive analysis gave me a rough idea of the industry standard and how to stay true to the construction culture while letting McGuire and Hester's unique characteristics shine.
The People Behind the Brand
I spent a lot of time talking to different people at the company to get a sense of their identity and what values they hold and plotted my findings on a concept map to help generate concepts.
My approach to the brand combines their unique history with breathable white space and clean type.
Branding Choices
Typeface
As a way to pair the history of the company with a contemporary aesthetic, Basic Gothic Pro was the typeface chosen for its modern appeal while maintaining a sense of strength and stability.
Colors
Inspired by the main logo, with two shades of grey added.
Icons
Line art style, something uncommon in the AEC / Heavy Civil industry, to differentiate the brand.
Digital & Print Marketing
- Monthly e-mail newsletters and campaigns (Pardot)
- Social media Posts (Pardot, Hootesuite, Later, and Buffer) Created assets: badges, short animations, and videos
T-shirts (company-wide giveaways, job site shirts, and company events) - Banners (recruiting and industry events)
- Custom Packaging for an equipment model (client gift)
- Print: project proposals, recruiting brochures, company print newsletters, services brochures, etc.
Website Redesign
After evaluating the old website, our team was able to leverage our analysis to address pain points and create new opportunities to showcase the company. McGuire and Hester is a great company with impactful stories connected to their work, which we wanted to highlight. Another point we focused on was adding personality and diversity to the website by using grey background images.
The website was designed on Sketch with a visual designer and coded by a web developer who I worked with directly to manage the communication and completion of the project.
