[Reading Time: 4 minutes]

 

It’s time to show off a new photography brand and website for Emily of Mager Image in Champaign, Illinois!

Emily Magers is a Wedding, Senior and Boudoir photographer based out of Central Illinois. And, if you know Emily, you will INSTANTLY fall in love with how her new brand + website is 100% her. It’s real, it’s authentic… and dare we say — it’s fucking awesome.

Emily reached out to us back in June after hearing about us from Kara Evans. Not only was Emily looking for a new brand that was an accurate representation of her, but she was looking for a website that WORKED. Emily had been bogged down with CONSTANT issues from her previous website host. After many phone calls, live chats and a few select words with GoDaddy, we were finally able to uncover the awful security issues that were taking her previous website down and bring her blog content over to Showit to keep it safe and sound!

Once we did this, we knew it was time to get Emily right into the branding with Kelsey, so we could get a website up for her ASAP!

 

Brand Design with Kelsey

Colorful, bold, high-end, fun yet professional—these are all words that not only describe Emily’s work but also what it’s like to work WITH her. Our goal was to create a brand and website for Emily that gives off these same vibes and really showcases her photography in a unique way that feels like, well, HER!

Some of our favorite features of the new Mager Image brand aesthetic are: the abstract geometric logo with layered textures, the colorful smoke effect used throughout her brand, the bold contrast of champagne gold against a black background, and the fun maroon color that matches Emily’s hair!

Website Design with Britt

Once we got past the CRRRAAAAZYYYYYY issues with GoDaddy and we got Emily’s site over to Showit, we finally had confidence that everything would be 100% awesome from here and out. Creating a design that is out of the box is something we LOVE — and Emily let us do exactly that! We kept in mind the colorful, bold, high-end, fun vibes that Emily was looking for, but we did it in a way that still made her business look legit. And, thanks to her incredible website copy she provided us, that was the #1 piece of feedback she had from her website visitors on launch day! They were in LOVE with the fact that her new brand + website truly felt like her. (Which, as designers, is THE best compliment we could’ve gotten!)

The know, like, and trust factor of the new Mager Image brand is felt throughout her entire website in the following ways:

• “Champaign Area Wedding, Senior + Boudoir Photographer” – Having this information front + center on Emily’s home page immediately tells her clients where she’s located! She does hint at the “travel-obsessed” in the first line, too, so while she’s in the Champaign area, she does also provide destination photography!
• Introducing Emily right up front – This was something Emily expressed that she REALLY wanted to do. She wanted her clients to know, like, and trust HER before they’re introduced too much further into her business details + offerings. We did this by showing off a quick bio, a testimonial about Emily, and finally showing off some fun facts about her BEFORE talking about the types of photography she specializes in!
• Recent blog posts on her home page – The more blog traffic, the better, right!? Showing off blogs right on the home page can show Emily’s clients the latest + greatest going on in her business. She’s keeping them engaged as they click!
• Featured badges – Another great way to build up the trust factor with clients that Emily is legit!
• Personal details on About Page – Emily did a really great job balancing her website copy with info for her clients (her experience) but also showing off her beautiful family. It’s always a great thing to show off the PERSON behind the business. Because, let’s face it, clients want to trust YOU!
• THE MAP – Go look at the map. If you look at anything on this site, LOOK AT THE MAP. How freakin’  awesome is this!?
• Details of what to expect on specialty pages — Looking to book your wedding with an engagement session? How about timeline help? These are just TWO of the incredible features about Emily’s wedding photography process that will help set her apart from her competition. She even spells out the process line by line on her Boudoir and Senior pages!
• TONS of details on the blog! –  Emily’s blog was something that we had to wrestle away from GoDaddy. In the end, we won. 😉  Emily was able to hang onto her 300+ blog posts and show them off here on her blog page by separating them out for the types of blogs her clients are there to see! When they click into the blogs, they’re greeted by a fun sidebar to keep clicking/searching through her blog, and even some related posts at the end of the one they read!

 

Now, let’s see Emily’s new brand…. ready!?

 

 

We LOVED working with you, Emily! Now, go celebrate!!!

 

 

 

 

PS: Are you feeling that you’re ready for your brand to FINALLY feel like you?! We would love to work with you, just like we did with Emily, to finally show off your personality in your brand from start to finish!