Devfortress
Devfortress is a software development agency based in Montreal specialized in e-commerce and custom software solutions. I was hired to redesign their branding and visual identity, as well as their marketing and portfolio website.
Project Brief
Devfortress is a small software development agency founded in 2017 in Montreal. Since then they have grown their team and their business reach into the US and Europe. They were looking to revamp their brand and website to help them continue their growth and attract more international business.
Team
UX designer: Matei Anghel
Client: Tom Sun & Shao Hang He
Timeline
December 2022 - January 2023
Research & ideation: 1 weeks
Brand redesign: 3 weeks
Web design & implementation: 4 weeks
Tools used
Business focus
The Devfortress team adamantly wanted to take their business to the next level and start to compete with the larger, well established software and tech design consultants in the market. It was therefore important for me to focus on delivering a solution that would enable Devfortress to look like they belong in that market space.
Initial state
Branding
When I began the project, the Devfortress brand sported a simple blank and white logo of a castle with brackets as a play on the company’s name ‘Development’ & ‘Fortress’. There was no brand guideline or specified persona or target audience.
Marketing website
The website contained a elements that did not seem to fit together nor tell a compelling story. The content was not SEO optimized, and the branding and visuals were all over the shop. The Devfortress team wanted a homogenous brand design and copywriting that would match with their long term business aspirations.
Empathise & Define
Market research
I performed secondary research into the market space to determine how DevFortress’ competitors present themselves on the web. I made sure to take note of their branding, copywriting and storytelling to ensure I would design to similar standards.
Customer persona
I conducted customer research by looking at Devfortress’ past customer LinkedIn profiles, as well as comments and reviews they left on the company’s Clutch profile, and by performing a couple discovery interviews. Using this information, I was able to build the persona below that would help inform the branding and web design direction.
Branding Design
Logo & Typography Ideation
Based on competitor branding research and the target persona, I began to assembly different logo ideas and typography styles. I tested these out with the Devfortress founders as well as will friends and family to determine how different people would react to different branding choices.
Logo Converge
Based on the research results, I began to converge on a final logo design direction which I would present to the Devfortress team for a final decision.
Final Logo Selection
The Devfotress team selected the logo shown below. It allowed the inclusion of the name of the brand and is unique and recognizable when compared to competitor logos. It also would appeal to our target persona’s conservative personality due to its simple and clean appearance.
Brand Guideline
I then created a comprehensive brand guideline which would help future web designers and marketers understand and apply the design direction agreed upon with the Devfortress team. This includes the company mission statement, communication style, logo, typography and color styles.
Website Design
Marketing site
The marketing website design was molded following the information architecture and simple styles reflected in Devfortress’ competitors. A soft colour palette and shadows were used to create volume and space throughout the site, giving the user the impression of navigating on a cloud. Blue and black were used to emphasize word or key interactions. Custom illustrations were incorporated in the ‘services’ and ‘expertise’ sections providing the website a unique look.
Portfolio pages
The portfolio section of the website was a critical peice for this project's success. The objective was to keep each page minimal and concise given the executive-type audience we were targeting. The use of blue shadows to highlight important content was a design choice enabling readers to quickly scan the page to find relevant content. The heavy use of mockups also enables our goal-oriented audience to quickly identify and relate with the end product delivered.
