I’ve always been a sucker for great branding, and I keep a long list of companies I am inspired by. (Mr. Boddington! Trader Joe’s! Schumacher! And many more!) I so admire the stories they tell. Each brand has its own color palette, clever messaging, and a signature style.
When I launched Melanie Everett & Company in January 2019, I had the opportunity to start completely from scratch. What would my brand look like? Feel like? Sound like? I knew I didn’t want to be like every other real estate brokerage. M&Co. was going to be something different.
I enlisted the help of my college roommate, Victoria, to design my logo. She based it off a vintage font by Frederic Goudy. (Goudy, who came to fame as a type designer, hailed from Chicago and once did bookkeeping for a local realtor.) She sent me the final draft, and that sophisticated logo set the tone for my company.
From there, I picked out colors — light pink mixed with grey and black — and settled on a feminine, fun vibe for everything from the website to signage. I loved the look, I really did! For 3 years, this brand suited M&Co. well… until it was time for a change.
Sarah and I put our heads together in early 2022. As much as I adored the pink, girly tone, I knew my firm was ready for a little refresh. Sarah made the process feel easy and fun, and when we were finished, I didn’t even miss the old M&Co.! See for yourself 🙂
On a sunny fall morning in October, Sarah and I styled all of our new marketing materials, and Courtney took photos of the suite. I absolutely love how everything turned out, and I’m thrilled to share it all with you today.
I’m incredibly grateful to Sarah for her hard work on this redesign, and to Courtney for her gorgeous photography. Below, I’ve included a little Q&A with Sarah about our process — enjoy!
A Quick Q&A with Sarah
What was your design process?
My first step was gathering inspiration. I actually gathered a ton of inspiration from Instagram bloggers! I liked that their brands are really built around a person & felt very human, & that’s how we wanted M&Co. to feel, too. I also browsed Pinterest for images that felt on-brand for us.
From those 2 sources, I created a few different color palettes to review, pulling colors from photos and graphics. I took my favorite combos & created even more color palettes — adding colors and adjusting the tones. Then, Melanie & I sat down to review them all (11 in total!) & find the one that felt right!
Once we had the direction of this dusty blue, we played around with the color wheel until we found the tone that fit just right. & that’s how our signature color, French Blue, was born!
What are some of your fave brands for inspo?
Some of the influencers I looked to for inspiration were Ashley Brooke, Julia Berolzheimer, & Caitlin Wilson; 3 ladies with amazing & sophisticated style! I also looked at card designer Mr. Boddington (Melanie & I share a deep love for Mr. B!), & paintings from one of my favorite artists, LaurieAnne Art.
Tell us what you love about the Melanie Everett brand!
I love how classic & timeless our logo is — Victoria did an amazing job! Since it’s based on a real-life font, we are able to use the Goudy font throughout our website & marketing, & I think it creates a really cohesive brand. Our hope is that French Blue + our logo becomes the most recognizable real estate brand in the city!
One of my other favorite things is our use of the ampersand throughout all our written content. You’ll probably start to notice it now — it’s this fun, hidden nod to our name that I love!
