Building a Stronger Future: A Rebranding Success for Hamilton Stern Construction
The Challenge
Hamilton Stern is a construction management company that specializes in commercial projects. They believed that their existing branding lacked consistency, appeared overly playful, and did not accurately represent their work. Additionally, they aimed to distinguish themselves from competitors.
The Solution
Brandmint designed a new brand identity and logo, working closely with Liz Schuhart (Business Support Manager, Hamilton Stern) to align on the right tone. Updated brand assets brought a more sophisticated look and feel to the company and coincided with their transition into a new, modern office space.
We then designed and developed a WordPress website to better showcase Hamilton Stern’s portfolio. By taking a more visual approach to their home page, we let their projects speak for themselves. The result was a more cohesive design with a better logical flow between projects, services, and company updates.
Our Process
We kicked off the partnership with a Strategic Planning workshop to identify facets of Hamilton Stern’s brand, working through their goals, challenges, target audience, and more. Once we better understood their team, we collaborated with their leaders to articulate their brand archetype, positioning, and messaging.
Brandmint then developed a set of brand assets, including a logo, color palette, and website. The regular in-person meetings to collect feedback ensured that all parties were aligned with the new direction.
The Branding Direction
The updated visual language brought a confident and modern aesthetic to their brand, which stood out among the more conservative, lackluster looks common in construction industries. By combining a bolder font choice with a stark logo, the branding commanded more attention.
Tonally, the copy conveyed an honest and optimistic voice to inspire trust from clients. Their messaging has the intimacy of working with a small company while showcasing their big company capabilities.
Logomark options
The Logo
Concepts for the new logomark drew from the process involved in creating structures. We were inspired by building silhouettes, stairwells viewed from different perspectives, and blueprints. This resonated with the internal team who wanted to emphasize the act of “building a foundation.”
The final version invoked a multi-level floorplan while playing on the letters “H” and “S,” referring to the last names of Hamilton Stern’s co-founders.
Chosen logo and inspiration
“We knew we wanted to strategically refresh our image and brand, but we also knew there was no one in-house with the expertise to drive the change. That’s where Brandmint came in. They quickly established themselves as organized and deadline driven, which was phenomenal given a tight deadline. More importantly, they established themselves as professionals in their field, learning about our company, conducting the necessary research, and ultimately delivering a result we love.”
The Website
Hamilton Stern’s updated website had three main purposes: (1) to showcase their portfolio first, (2) to shift away from the founders’ origin story and instead highlight how the current employees play an integral role in shaping the company’s identity, and (3) to attract new, experienced talent.
We put their new branding into action, bringing a visual-forward approach to their portfolio. To streamline their copy, we rewrote the site from the bottom up and pulled elements from their strategic planning workshop. The final format more accurately conveyed Hamilton Stern’s identity and personality while revamping the site flow.
The Socials
We created a social strategy based on their rebrand which included templates for various content ideas such as project highlights, culture, employee spotlights, and miscellaneous announcements.