Stephanie Hopkins
Elevating a photographer’s visual identity to match her wine country location
BRAND STRATEGY / VISUAL IDENTITY / WEB DESIGN + DEV — Sonoma, California
Brand Evolution
Where Stephanie Hopkins Photo Began…
Stephanie came to us at a pivotal point in her business. She had been photographing for years, but felt stuck. She attended several photography workshops, hired coaches, and changed her site more times than she could remember. But her inquiries weren’t improving and she felt like her brand didn’t feel true to her or the experience she provided. She wanted to rebrand everything, highlighting her expertise, her connection to local vendors, how much fun she had on wedding days, and how easy she made the entire process for her couples.
Where Stephanie Hopkins Photo Is Headed…
Stephanie didn’t realize it, but she had carved herself out a nice niche: proposals photography. She was photographing so many and they were barely highlighted on her current site. We wanted to design a brand that appealed to either audience that landed on her site and set couples up to hire her for their weddings after she shot the engagement. Once we realized her two different audiences, we set her on the path to become the local expert in proposals, as well someone who could make it fun at every step of the process. Her new brand is warm, inviting, and kind. Just like her.
Brand Keywords
Trustworthy — Fun — Genuine — Confident
Target Audience
Emma, 30, is a doctor at a local private practice. She is engaged to her long-time boyfriend, Adam, who is a little more laid-back than her, but matches her energy in his career as a lawyer. Their lives can be somewhat stressful and they are wanting their wedding to be as easy as possible. After Adam hired Stephanie to photograph their proposal, Emma knew she wanted her to photograph the wedding. Together, they love weekends in wine country, spending quality time with the people closest to them, and celebrating even the smallest wins in their lives. Their wedding will be full of fun, family, good food, and good moods.
Visual Rationale
Since Stephanie’s brand is all about fun and ease, we wanted to lean into the warm vibes people have working with her. We reflected that comfortability with soft, purpley blues and a pink-ish tan and a bold pop of red. Her logo marks are a nod to wine country and the script subhead keeps things personable. Her brand has the unique job of trying to appeal to both brides and boyfriends who want the proposal photographed. So her visuals were a fun challenge of blending the masculine and the feminine.
In Stephanie’s Words
“I am over the moon with the whole process and experience Lydia offers! From the very beginning of my contact with her, she was kind, friendly and generous with her time! I was nervous to invest and she was understanding and continued to show to her value throughout. She helped me elevate MY client experience and listened to my pain points- and the end result was an incredible user experience. Her creativity and thoughtfulness makes me just want to share my website with everyone, instead of being embarrassed with my own DIY job.
What I also appreciated was that she took my critiques, kindly but firmly explained when things might not work, and helped me feel confident in final decisions. I am a photographer and it amazed me, seeing my images and falling in love with them all over again with her design. It was like seeing them for the first time! Lydia, I can’t thank you enough for your hard word, patience, and overall encouraging attitude. I’m so so proud of our work together and sad it’s over!”
Brand Values
Communication — Connection — Comfort
stephaniehopkins.com
If you’ve made it this deep into our site, you probably already know that collaboration is our favorite. This project was a team effort with the help of Rachel Greiman on copywriting.
