EXEC-EDU – a new visual identity and website – made by Toud

Category: Projects

Context

EXEC-EDU is one of the biggest, most important and well-known training companies from Romania. It is not us who says it, but them. And they prove it with a lot of prizes and at least some fabulous numbers accumulated in over 20 years of continuous activity: thousands of client companies and tens of thousands of participants. Even in the week we write about this project, it was designated the training company of the year.

We started to discuss in the second quarter of this year (2019) about the need for having a simpler, easier to use and able to show the team’s belief website.

By analyzing the website, but also the brand visual identity and the elements on which the brand strategy is based, we realized that there is a quite big discrepancy between them. On one hand, the strategy elements were clear and simple, but on the other hand, the visual part and the communication elements were very complicated.

Objectives

revitalizing the visual identity;
revitalizing the communication through a new approach that focuses on user experience when it comes to the website;
creating a brand consolidation context by harmonizing the strategy elements and the visual + communication elements (website + social media).

Step 1

A new visual identity

This was the hardest step, a series of elements linked the team to the old logo and several other strategic elements. It was difficult to explain the need for change and the potential positive impact.

The creative brief was centered on two ideas – the joy of learning + performance in learning. The new visual identity had to be simple, clean, human and focused on the two ideas above.

We started from the old logo and the symbols behind it. We wanted to simplify everything, building focus on the meanings illustrated in the logo and the other elements. We obtained a simple, easily memorable, different logo, which can easily become a vessel for all the brand symbolism. In addition, the graphic motif of lines, which we have repeated in many visual identity elements (email signature, business cards, layouts for site photos, document layouts) serves to amplify these symbols.

EXEC-EDU exists today in two parts – programs for the professional area and for well-being and personal development area. To simplify even better the interaction of the customer with the tow categories, we allocated for each of them a different color. And, EXEC-EDU Management Academy received a special visual identity, declined from that of the brand.

Step 2

The approach

Fortunately, the notebooks for programs printed in the last years were over somewhere by August. This was a very good chance to change the approach. We created, together with EXEC-EDU team, some different notebooks, focused on the joy of learning and the participant’s needs. This was a firs exercise of manifesting the new expressivity of the brand. These notebooks turned into a file that anyone cand download from the website.

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Step 3

EXEC-EDU website

Here we focused on simplifying. We created a website where you can easily find and filter the information. We integrated an advanced calendar which includes maps and a reminder system and also has a very pleasant design.

We tried to simplify everything, to present the information in an easy to understand and logical way.

We paid great attention to design both for fix and mobile devices, as half of the traffic nowadays comes from mobile ones. The whole redesign process started after a thorough analysis of the old website data.

There are already too many words. You can see what we made here – exec-edu.ro

HubSpot integration

We integrated the website with HubSpot. We did that to optimize the user experience, to increase the reaction speed to their requests and to have a system that helps us in inbound marketing campaigns.

What comes next

Together with EXEC-EDU team, we will work for continuous optimization of the public interaction with the experiences offered by EXEC-EDU and also generate new resources.