Insight
The H Foster business was first established in 1875, and has since adapted to the changing needs of customers by maintaining up-to-date expertise in the industry.
In 2019, the company reached the exciting phase of moving on to the next generation. And as well as maintaining the strong relationship with the existing industry contacts, the team wanted to attract a new set of customers: the at-home makers and crafters. For this, they wanted to launch a second brand identity, with a corresponding second website.
We had three main creative problems to solve with this project:
- creating something for both B2B and B2C marketing collateral;
- updating the brand while honouring its heritage;
- and building two websites capable of handling high traffic, each with a positive user experience.
Ideas
From the core values, we established a personality and clear tone of voice, which the team could adapt depending on their audience and the context.
We carried out research into other businesses in the sector, uncovering ways that H Foster could stand out.
The new visual identy takes typographic cues from the business’ historic base at Kirkstall Road, with a style that will endure through future years as the business continues to innovate.
At Nixon, we approach each project in the most creative way possible – to give users a more visually exciting experience, we applied subtle animations to the navigation, created icons to indicate uses for products, and even edited a video for the homepage in-house.
For the 1875 ecommerce site, we art-directed a photo shoot to create a bank of beautiful images with a creative and aspirational feel. Capturing a soap-making session in a reportage style led to a stage-by-stage breakdown of the hands-on making process, with photographs showing products in a simple, natural and uncluttered way.
Impact
We launched the two websites simultaneously, with each offering brand consistency alongside unique elements that appeal to their specific audiences.
From the efficient websites down to details like business cards and stickers for individual products, the new identity brings together the core values of an innovative family business.
Michelle Cheverton, H Foster 1875
Every member of Nixon has exceptional knowledge of contemporary web design and marketing; the team is responsive, collaborative and takes feedback seriously. They took the time to understand our business to optimise the functionality of our sites and focus our marketing, and did it all with creativity and professionalism. It’s clear that our success is their top priority. We really appreciate their high level of communication and ability to execute on what was promised.
