What
Brand Refresh
Role
Product Design Co-op
Industry
Construction
Tool
Figma, Adobe Products
Timeline
10 Weeks, Summer 2024
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Redefine the brand’s direction with brand documentation, print, graphics, and website to better align with two core audiences
PROBLEM
Bring a local business into the modern era
Selected for a co-op position to redesign a local construction company, I worked closely with Bonnie (Marketing), Gail (CEO), and the sales team to deliver work on tight timelines.
Research was a continuous process as I sought to understand users, market conditions, and business needs. As the sole designer, I took full ownership of the brand — balancing creative exploration with the responsibility of delivering a clear, effective identity.
Over ten weeks, I developed a comprehensive brand system that culminated in a website design prepared for future dev handoff.
This experience expanded my practice across multiple design disciplines and reinforced the importance of designing with empathy and clarity. Iterating quickly and supporting Gail by breaking goals into structured tasks with clear milestones strengthened my ability to think strategically and communicate design decisions. I’m deeply grateful to this small, family-like team for the mentorship and trust that shaped how I approach user-centered design.
Refining, not redefining
Summarizing choices with the base of the brand: color + logo
LOGO
The same, but different
Keep her dad's legacy
Overall, Gail wanted to maintain the existing design direction. We kept the structure largely the same while refining it for readability -> grounding the building, adjusting spacing, and updating the text with a sans serif made custom through refined stroke, leading, and spacing.
OG Lockup
Iteration 3
Final Iteration
COLOR
Cool Blue
Supporting colors = different product spheres
Their main construction is in cooling down buildings so we chose a stoic blue, but they also have products that save energy and retain heat, so green and warm reds/oranges were included as supporting brand colors.
Pantone only
Because a lot of their work includes paint, we centered their color system around Pantone colors.
WEEK 3-6
Print + Graphics
Print and Graphics were the next touchpoint of this company.
Their revenue revolved around print -> lots of buildings were schools and municipalities and superindendants, mayors, or city councils preferred the old way (door to door sales).
Because of this, we stuck to a 3 week schedule for custom icons, a booklet, flyers/leaflets, cards, and business cards, all of which would be a sales kit.
A working sales kit
Designing the information of print to work well together, and on its own.
Developed streamlined templates which can be easily populated, requiring minimal design work.
PRINT_1
Booklet
Showcase all our skills and expertise
We emphasized our position as a small yet expert Ohio-based business, one of the only teams offering a fully integrated process from design to installation.
Prove to contractors why we're a good fit
Knowing that contractors value how uncommon it is to work with a company that manages the entire process, we intentionally built a benefits section showcasing streamlined workflows, reduced paperwork, past client experiences, and funding support.
Outer + Opening Panel
One of their key taglines
Inner +Side Panel
PRINT_3
Half-page Mailers
Templates for small chunks of information
Capitol had a wealth of information about budgets, color, and materials, but it wasn’t being used in their print or website materials. I developed designs which organized the insights from our meetings into clear, accessible templates for the sales team to use.
PRINT_2
Leaflets
Quick information for anyone with a budget
Think superintendents, mayors, anyone who needs to scan the best benefits and bang for their buck. I made a mix of ready-for-print as well as a mix of templates that were easy to replicate and populate.
Specific and Universal appeal
I created several Project Spotlights highlighting past work designed for specific environments like schools with priorities around security, durability, and low maintenance through winter break and summer months, alongside broader prints with more universal appeal, as well as general leaflets promoting all of what Capitol does.
PRINT_3
Business cards
For conventions and government contracts
Every year, Capitol goes to many sales conventions for municipalities and government contracts. Business cards were essential.
PRINT_4
Envelopes
GRAPHICS_1
Custom Icons
For business specific use
Capitol used multiple icons to represent the same concepts.
To improve clarity, we found 24 individual concepts around attributes and benefits of Capitol, with 12 being the most popular.
Bulletproof
Blast Resistant
All Weather
Security
Waterproof
Aluminum
Color
Material
Timeline
Full Team
Blueprint / Design
Permit / Certification
Certification
Award
Construction
Location
WEEK 6-10
Website
The website was the final project for the company.
It was designed to be templatized, with simple layouts that would be easily and quickly replicated. There
A website for development
Creating a website and design system for future development handoff
WEB USER FLOW
Simplify the navigational experience
Nested information and less correlation
Information and pages were hidden under navigation that wasn't clear, and structured in a way that was unintuitive.
I was able to condense the information and cut 3 pages.
Faster ways for the regular person to know the difference
created a flow for Gail and Bonnie to understand what was going on, and thought about how to provide information to users in the best way.
Want to see a closer look at the Figjam? Message me
WEB DESIGN
Highlighting some features
A home page with better categorization of products
I created a flow for Gail and Bonnie to understand what was going on, and thought about how to provide information to users in the best way.
A home page with better categorization of products
I created a flow for Gail and Bonnie to understand what was going on, and thought about how to provide information to users in the best way.
A home page with better categorization of products
I created a flow for Gail and Bonnie to understand what was going on, and thought about how to provide information to users in the best way.
A category page with compare/contrast for people with less know-how about architectural specs
I created a flow for Gail and Bonnie to understand what was going on, and thought about how to provide information to users in the best way.
A product page featuring a simple project gallery and quick access to specifications
I created a flow for Gail and Bonnie to understand what was going on, and thought about how to provide information to users in the best way.
the conclusion
I learned so much from these ten weeks and I'm grateful for the opportunity to create hands-on products and produce real change for the company! Gail and Bonnie gave me so much trust in this project, and I am forever grateful they chose me to see their new vision through.