Design Process for WJ Gordon and Associates

About

W.J. Gordon & Associates began as A.H. Ganger & Company, an association of Attorneys and CPAs, working with small and medium-sized business clients in the Greater Cleveland area.

William J. Gordon, Jr. joined the firm 40 years ago as a litigating attorney and tax specialist. Over the years, he has developed a family-owned and operated business. He and his staff continue to work with clients with the same integrity and enthusiasm that built the foundation of the firm. He and his team continue to value the strength of long-lasting client relationships. They specialize in helping clients understand accounting on both personal and business levels.

Challenge

Sara Lotts the VP and Chief Operating Officer approached me about a need for a re-identity as she and her colleagues felt the business had outgrown its current visuals used and wanted to upgrade the look and feel of the business.

The business tag line is “Accounting for all Seasons” and they are family-owned. Sara’s vision was to create something that played off the tag line, had colors as she noted many accounting firms lacked color and included the concept of family and the strong and lasting client relationships.

Solution

The solution was to update the visuals to reflects the growth of the company and the vision of the business’ goals moving into the future.

Strategy

I started by interviewing the employees of the business to understand from their point of view how they felt about the business and the clients they work for and have over the years developed relationships with.

Based on the interviews and doing research on local competitors, I created a list of keywords to use as a foundation to design from. 
 
I used the keywords to find image inspiration to inform the visual directions of the logo design.