In a nutshell...
Small Business Project. 2019
Summary
The user problem for this project was how can we connect a small business to people, forming a steady business.
Team/Others
I was the sole designer
Results
The small business loved the work and decided to keep the business cards and their new brand.
Constraints
The population was mostly elderly, but the small business owners were interested in having younger people to do business with in the future.
Branding
A small business approached me with the need for new branding materials. They were not really interested in anything except a logo.
Research on Audience
The small business owners lived and serviced a relatively small area with a large elderly population. I made a few extra sketches revolving around a fifties theme, but was somewhat worried that if the small business approached younger individuals, they would be largely ignored. I then had the thumbs-up idea. A thumbs - up means different things to different groups of people. For the older generation, a thumbs-up will represent a can-do attitude, which really struck the name and for the younger generation, the thumbs-up symbolizes social media 'likes'. With this style, the new logo provides something familiar and something new to bring to their audience from their city.
Current Tools
There are many different handyman services which means that there are a lot of different types of tools, including websites, review markets, administrative tools, and YouTube videos for the people that did not even want a handyman. I found that that a lot of handyman service websites were typically out of date and in need of user interface updates along with inability to schedule online. The website design should have a more user friendly space to include older and younger people who want to manage online.
Because of these concerns of the target audience, I was able to decide on a mobile/desktop website, in which users would be able to book their services and sign their contract beforehand and see all services provided.
Conclusion
After the designs were approved by the small business owners, they received their business cards and logo designs. While they loved the designs for the desktop and mobile website, they decided that they did not want those assets at that point in time due to their own time constraints. Their business picked up a lot in the next few months, and instead of receiving 1-2 calls in a week, they ended up receiving several calls a week.
