Behind the Design: Sipsy Ink Copywriting
The WildHive Client:
Tristyn Sipsy is one of the kindest and most considerate people you will ever meet! After our first Zoom meeting, I not only knew that WildHive Studio and Sipsy Ink Copywriting would be a great team, but I knew I wanted to personally work with her! Her great sense of humor and easy-going nature made Tristyn feel like someone I'd known for much longer than 30 minutes. I have to say, too, that since the close of our project together, she has remained a friend and trusted collaborator in my online business community. I can see how Tristyn lives her brand values every day and how she takes such good care of each and every one of her clients.
Why we were buzzing to get started:
Need I say more? Tristyn was an instant good fit for WildHIve Studio and we're all about forming solid relationships with each of our clients. We choose clients that will be a great fit for our studio because we know that in order to help them to our fullest potential, there needs to be trust, collaboration, and a shared level of passionate ambition for the goals at hand. Tristyn trusted our expertise from the beginning, was eager to share ideas, and has a deeply rooted passion for what she does and the impact she wants to make on not just her business, but the world.
The Goal:
Tristyn came to WildHive Studio looking for someone who could understand her vision and help her pivot her business accordingly. She expressed her desire to move away from her niche of wedding industry professionals and open herself up to working with creatives, the travel industry, and other organizations that aligned with her personal passions. Since connection was so important to her, she also wanted to find a way to show up authentically online and connect on a deeper level with her audience.
The Journey
Tristyn originally came to me for a brand refresh. She needed help figuring out the foundation of her brand and developing a strategy to reach her new target audience. She wanted a brand look that felt aligned to her brand personality and messaging but struggled to capture that fully when she DIYed her branding.
"I tried to DIY a brand, but I was so inconsistent with it because I couldn't connect the dots between my brand foundations and my brand visuals. Plus, nailing down brand foundations is so hard for your own brand when you can't bounce ideas off of another person, especially an expert in branding strategy!"
"Nothing I DIYed ever felt right for my brand. My brand always felt so 'amateur hour' with anything I came up with."
The Target Audience:
During our 1:1 strategy session, Tristyn and I uncovered the essence of her ideal target audience. She wanted to work with a variety of industries so we narrowed down what each of those industries had in common and came up with a plan for how she could position her business and services to best help each of them. After our call, she had a much clearer understanding how her target audiences shared her values and how she could reach them by showing up with more personality and value-driven posts online.
The Deliverables:
Brand Strategy
Social Media Strategy
Brand Design
Custom Instagram Templates
Pinterest Templates
Pain Points
Her audience isn't just looking for someone who could do the job well or who had the right price. They are consumers driven by connection, trust, and understanding. They make purchases based on the connection they feel to the human being behind the business. They're looking for a copywriter that can understand them, capture their voice, and help them provide substantial value to their audiences.
Strategy & Design Solutions:
Enter, Sipsy Ink Copywriting. Using the Brand Master Plan strategy guide, I developed three options for her new visual identity that included mood boards, colors, and logo concepts. Since we wanted to accentuate Sipsy Ink's playful and down-to-earth personality, we went with a simple, artistic, and slightly boho look, moving away from the previous elegant and refined overture.
Her logo suite embodies the story of Tristyn's past and present, giving homage to her time spent living in Turkey growing up and her current profession as a writer. The octopus was the perfect symbol for her personality and created a stark difference from the majority of her competitors that use a more traditional brand icon such as a pen, pencil, or quill.
Project Highlights:
One thing we LOVE to do at WildHive Studio is to create hand-drawn, illustrative patterns and textures for our clients. These extra brand elements add depth and visual interest to your brand identity. They are perfect for adding a little something extra to your website and social media.
Here's what Tristyn had to say after seeing the final deliverables:
"I already feel SO much more confident in my brand. I'm nothing except ecstatic to show off my new brand to everyone! I can't wait to share more results once I have launched!"
The Final Results:
We asked Tristyn what advice she'd give business owners on the fence about investing in brand strategy and design. Here's what she said:
"DIY-ing your brand strategy is great if you're just starting out. But if you're looking to feel more confident in your brand and business, and if you're looking to take your business to the next level, you need to work on building a solid brand strategy (before you even work on brand design!)"
Here's her final review:
"I wouldn't have gone with anyone other than Whitney and WildHive Studio. She made the branding strategy and design process so easy and so much fun! There was always minimal homework, which meant I could still focus on my own business while she handled the creation of my new brand.
More importantly, after every single Zoom call, DM, or message on Notion, I felt so relaxed with my brand in her hands. I trusted her every single step of the way. And the outcome was more than worth it. Every single design was flawless and perfectly captured what image of what I wanted my brand to look like. Whitney is an absolute expert in brand strategy and design - there's no other way to say it."
It’s time to show up as the expert you are!
Project Gallery:
tote bag design
business card design
Tissue paper design using brand pattern