Poem came to us with the idea of launching a digital platform for emerging fine artists to sell their work, while, in turn, supporting local charities. This was an extremely large-scale project, where I was able to use many of my skills, as well as build a stellar team. I led the creative and development process throughout the entirety of the project. I also acted as their go to Creative Director, providing day-to-day creative and strategic guidance while they built their internal team.
Scope of work: Creative Business Strategy, Brand Positioning, Brand Design, Site UX & Visual Design, Marketing Strategy, Content Strategy, Copywriting, Fractional Creative Director
Poem Studio Brand Strategy
Through creative facilitation, I took the the Poem team through a series of exercises to help them define their goals, and determine the “what”, “why”, and “how” of what they wanted to create. Our exercises resulted in a clearly defined mission, and alignment among the stakeholders around a path to move forward. Next steps was to work on defining the brand positioning, the overall product offering and the key elements to create a MVP to launch with.
Laying The Ground Work
We defined the brand positioning, product offering, and differentiators.
Creating the Brand Story
We created a brand story document to socialize throughout the company. This helped them gain collective understanding and build momentum across stakeholders.
Creating a Naming System
The company wanted to keep the name Poem but was unsure on how to break out the different branches of the business plan under a single name and website. We determined a master-brand with sub-brands for their various products and businesses would suit their needs best. We developed a naming system that would allow the brand to have multiple products and businesses connected to the parent brand. With the parent brand name being ‘Poem’ and the sub-brands as Poem+___ . We then set to create the name for the artists’s site, which would be the first business they would launch. Through a series of exercises with the client and the design team, we settled on Poem Studio, with the url Poem.Studio.
Designing the Logo and Brand Elements
Branded Photography
The first shoot took place in Detroit, Michigan, with a local photographer and the first group of artists we were launching with. The shoot took place in the beautiful Carr Center in Detroit over the course of 2 days. The goal was to authentically capture the power, emotion and grit of the Detroit art community, and tell a visual story of the selected artists.
I leaned on Danielle quite heavily throughout the entire process. She is invaluable.
She delivered the brand and product we didn’t know we were looking for. I have so much respect for her.
Danielle asks the right questions so you are part of the process and feel confident about the decisions you’ve made.
— CRAIG MILLER - HEAD OF OPERATIONS, POEM STUDIO
All Poem & Poem.Studio Featured Work
Poem Brand Strategy & Logo Design
Poem.Studio Responsive eCommerce Website and Artist Intake Platform
Poem.Studio Photography Creative Direction
Poem.Studio Marketing & Branded Content
Project Team:
Danielle Gutherie - Project Lead, Creative Direction, Brand Strategy, Marketing Strategy, UX and Design
Jennifer Kim - Copywriting
Jeff Caldwell Logo Design
Merilee McDougal - Marketing Strategy
Brian Craig - Photographer
Project Deliverables:
Brand Strategy and Positioning
Site Architecture and Specifications
Customer Profiles
Responsive Website UI/UX and Visual Design
Website and Brand Style Guides
Email and Social Media Design Templates
Copywriting for the Website, Blog and Marketing Materials