The new Kiyah C brand and website is here! Welcome to my rebranded website and photography experience! After almost a full year of work dedicated to this rebrand, I’m so overjoyed to be able to share the final product: www.kiyahc.com! If you’re reading this, thank you for being here!

Why a rebrand?

I started my photography business as a college student in 2013 by buying a domain name, throwing my favorite pictures on a simple website, and creating a funky logo in Photoshop. Over the next few years, I would change the site and logo A LOT, eventually hiring a few people along the way to help and buying a template in 2017 for a bigger DIY revamp. With every change, I loved it at first then grew to feel like it wasn’t really representing me, my work, or my clients well. I didn’t know what was missing, but I knew something was! Last year, I booked a coaching session with Sarah Bradshaw and she gave me the best advice: you need to hire a professional for a rebrand! So, I took that to heart and decided 2020 would be the perfect opportunity to do that.

Like a lot of us, I looked at 2020 as a year of high expectations and exciting newness. I envisioned welcoming the next decade with a refresh and focus on redefining my goals and aspirations as a business and entrepreneur. Honing in on why I do what I do and who I do it all for, I knew that a deep dive into my brand (which is made up of SO much more than just a logo and colors!) would redirect my focus and reinvigorate my excitement for the wonderful people I welcome in as clients. 2020 has obviously looked SO different than expected, but that hasn’t deterred me from birthing my new direction as a brand.

How did I select my designer?

This was the hardest part of the process! With SO many talented designers out there, I knew it wouldn’t be easy to pick one. I started in October 2019 with Instagram searches and asking around for designer recommendations. I reached out to about 15 people and started having consultations with the ones that fit my budget and had great portfolios. I narrowed down to 4 or 5 talented women and ultimately landed on Ravyn of Three Fifteen Design for a few reasons. Ravyn’s portfolio is made up of mainly wedding photographers. This was the biggest reason because I knew she had experience in what works best for attracting ideal clients looking to hire a wedding photographer. The second reason is that her work is PHENOMENAL! Seriously, browse through her website, Instagram, and Pinterest. She designs in modern and creative way that fit perfectly with what I wanted. She also has tons of experience with Showit, which is the platform I wanted my new site to be hosted on instead of Squarespace. As I got to know her more during the process, I learned that she has a great heart and really cares about her clients too!

My brand vision

After booking Ravyn in January, we started the process in February with a brand questionnaire, Pinterest boards, and phone calls. She created an initial creative brief that I loved and we continued tweaking and refining it from there. Eventually, we landed on a beautiful site mock-up, color palette, and logo set! The new brand focused on an elevated, modern experience that reflects the inviting and relatable quality of my wedding and portrait artistry centered on truth, beauty, and people. Ravyn customized the typeface of my main logo with a thoughtful art deco inspiration. The colors are neutral, warm, and inviting. I love that the rust and mustard translate well with the brown skin tones that most of my clients have!

For my website, I wanted viewers to feel welcomed and taken care of, so it was important to have all the elements and pages flow seamlessly. The use of consistent colors and submarks throughout allowed for both a predictable and unpredictable experience. I also wanted an elevated blog page to let viewers see the most important and exciting posts on the header. I love everything about my website now!

Lastly, for my branding, I wanted to upgrade my packaging. The package I selected with Ravyn included two custom rubber stamps, business cards, notecards, and envelopes. These were very important because I tend to write a lot of handwritten notes to my clients and industry peers! I also ordered custom USB drives from USB Memory Direct to allow my wedding clients to have a home for their digital images.

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I could not be more happy or excited about my rebrand! Here’s to the rest of 2020 and all that is in store for Kiyah C Photography!