Lori Sappington

THE BRIEF

Lori Sappington is a former teacher turned literacy expert and advocate. Not only is she the co-host of the popular podcast, Melissa and Lori Love Literacy, but she is also a published author. Her notoriety in the literacy space led her to become a sought-after expert for speaking and presenting opportunities. What she didn’t have was a personal brand or website that would advocate on her behalf to help potential clients better understand who she was, what services she offered, and provide direct access to literacy resources. So that’s what she and I set out to do.

SCOPE OF WORK

Brand Identity Design

Website Design

THE STRATEGY

Clear Brand Goals Lead to Strong Brand Results

In order to drive more speaking engagements, Lori needed a website of her own. Already busy with the podcast and her other business, Science of Reading in Practice, she had no intention of creating a social media account for her personal brand too. So our approach was simple: design a polished brand identity that would capture her personality and increase awareness around her services.

DESIGN

A Tagline that Sets the Tone

Meeting Lori is like meeting someone you’ve known your whole life. She’s warm, easy to chat with, and 100% herself. This was only confirmed by the research I did and her own discovery questionnaire responses. For one of her brand taglines—something I develop with every brand client—I wanted to capture her essence that is so quickly felt when you’re in her presence. This led us to Your Literacy BFF, which became an additional submark for her primary logo and brand identity.

DESIGN

Logo Typography is Critical for Personal Brands

I wanted her logo suite to capture the warmth and professionalism that Lori exudes so effortlessly. Selecting the right logo typeface was critical. We landed on a serif typeface that fit this profile beautifully. In all caps the tall, modestly condensed letters feel confident but not boastful. The lowercase letters are all too charming with their gentle corners and a font weight that feels like a warm hug. For her primary logo designs, a gentle wave was added to further capture her light-hearted nature within the brand.

• EDUCATOR • SPEAKER • PODCASTER • LITERACY ADVOCATE • AUTHOR • EDUCATOR • SPEAKER • PODCASTER • LITERACY ADVOCATE • AUTHOR • EDUCATOR • SPEAKER • PODCASTER • LITERACY ADVOCATE • AUTHOR

DESIGN

Brand Colour Clairvoyance Might Be a Thing

Lori had communicated early on that she had a preference for earthy tones. Keeping in mind her other associated brands (the Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast and Science of Reading in Practice) I wanted her colour palette to facilitate an easy transition from one brand to the next for her audience. After I presented the brand colour palette to her, she sent me a video of her living room that essentially used the entire brand palette. Needless to say, the colours make her feel very at home in her brand.

DESIGN

Equipped with Logo Designs for New and Familiar Audiences

To ensure her logo designs supported her business growth, I equipped her with three sets of logo designs. The first set was a more formal logo design for new audiences that clearly communicates what she does by including “literacy consulting” in the design.

The second logo set would be her flagship logos. Because she already has a large audience, these have been styled to better capture her brand personality and didn’t need to include support context clues. Instead, we made them more fun with her Literacy BFF submark.

And finally, because I can’t help but make it fun, she was provided a tertiary set of logo designs equipped with a signature microphone motif. The intent here was to have a visual context clue to reinforce her strength as a speaker.

Working with Jenny completely changed my business

Working with Jenny completely changed my business and was the best investment I made as a small-business owner. Jenny is thoughtful and detail oriented, and is able to conceptualize the big picture while maintaining a close pulse on the smaller details. I now have clear brand direction, consumer-ready websites, and a focused roadmap for the next steps to move my business forward. I can’t recommend her enough.