Capturing the evolution of her artisry
You’ve probably seen or heard Allison before– she’s voiced commercials for nostalgic faves like Ritz, Capri Sun and Nickelodeon (among many others), and her acting credits include The Week Of, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and The Blacklist.
With an album launch on the horizon (right, she’s also a brilliant musician), she wanted a complete reimagining of her digital presence – one that would capture who she is now as an artist.
She came to me wanting to…
- Promote her upcoming album launch
- Showcase her voice acting portfolio
- Look like the accomplished, polished professional that she (absofreakinlutely) is.
“Thank you so much—I am so grateful for how everything looks and feels. Feeling like a true professional and proud to own all of my unique facets”
-Allison StrongThe process was “more joyful that I thought it could be”
We started with branding. I only consulted on this piece of the project; the brand design was executed by the uber talented Lu Beltran, who gave us some incredible hand-drawn assets to work with.
The rest of the website design was inspired by scrapbooks (Allison’s idea!) giving the project a sense of narrative. Allison’s a storyteller, emotive and inspired. The collection of snapshots and illustrations we used – hands playing piano, a photo of her cat, a drawing of the moon – all give a little peek into who she is offstage.
We used the homepage to nail the “look” of the website, then moved into the rest of the pages. Once the design was finished, we hooked up her email marketing system and designed a few grab-and-go email templates so she’d have an easy time generating newsletters.
We ended with a training session, making sure she understood everything under-the-hood, and saving a handful of video tutorials in a library she can refer back to.
How we worked through the sticky stuff: Pivoting the “look”
Allison was wonderful co-creator, sharing detailed reference photos of what she wanted and giving great feedback on the initial concepts. But when we saw the homepage come to life it was just…meh. It wasn’t translating the way we had hoped.
It’s rare that this happens (it’s occurred twice in dozens of projects at this point), and has required a different solution each time. In this case, I decided to go off script and take one more stab at it.
I disregarded all the mood boards and reference pictures, instead focusing on what I know of Allison’s energy and values. The new look was a radical departure: bolder, featuring Allison in bright red, unapologetically taking up space and owning the sh*t out of her talent. And it was a winner!
“I’m in a state of disbelief, this has been on my to do list for 2 years and now it’s done. Choosing to make my website with you was the best decision I made this year. “
-Allison Strong