A Rebrand Story: Wedding Photographer Raelene Schulmeister

Branding, Launching, Website

A Rebrand Story: How Raelene Schulmeister Photography Infused Her Real Personality Into Her Brand

I couldn’t have found a more fun-loving client when Raelene Schulmeister of Raelene Schulmeister Photography crossed my path. Raelene is tons of fun and super playful and her old branding came off more serious and closed-off than she wanted. She really wanted everything within her personality to truly shine in her brand, because she felt like there was a major disconnect.

A little bit about Raelene Schulmeister Photography and What Owner Raelene Was Going For

Raelene is a photographer who has been in the industry for a number of years. She shoots weddings and also provides business consulting to other photographers who need a helping hand.

She decided it was time for a rebrand because she was finally comfortable with herself as a business owner and realized her business needed to show off her personality and reflect what made her different.

Our Branding Journey Together:
How Raelene Came Up with Her Rebrand Strategy and What We Did

As part of my branding process, I always send my clients a questionnaire to answer.

Here’s how she answered some of my questions, so you can get a feel for the feedback she provided and how I took that feedback and translated it into her design:

Name 3 celebrities whose style inspires you: “I fricking LOVE Jimmy Fallon. I love that he makes time for being silly, and lets the world know it’s okay to be laughed at. I also like his style, that he can dress casually and still be taken seriously. I also love Anna Kendrick – classic with a little bit of pop, quirky but just a down to earth presence. Ellen also resonates with me – classic style, outgoing personality and the ability to make everyone feel comfortable…makes sneakers look cool and match everything..I feel like she portrays or presents the attitude that you CAN be professional and casual and personable all at the same time…and you should be.
Ask 5 people to describe you: “Dependable, caring, giving, trustworthy, hilarious, real, thoughtful, talented, loud, big presence, debater, driven”
What are you passionate about and how can this benefit your dream client?: “Being efficient in all tasks, like shooting efficiently on a wedding day so my couple can spend time with their guests and actually enjoy the day they’ve planned and worked so hard on. Being efficient in my workflows so clients aren’t waiting a crazy amount of time to get images back. I’m passionate about treating my clients like humans instead of just a dollar sign or an award for a standout image or epic photo recognition in online communities.”

This type of deep digging and feedback is invaluable. Without this underlying work, it’s much more difficult to truly brand a website that’s authentic to its owner’s vision and mission.

The Moodboard

Before I begin working on logos, I always create a custom mood board for my clients.

Based on the images Raelene pinned on her inspiration board, I created the below mood board. Common threads emerged throughout the colors, fonts, and images she selected and I was able to pull out the following color palette and fonts. We were onto something!

The Initial Logo Design Options

Next, I started on the logos and came up with the following options:

The Final Logo

After getting feedback from Raelene and doing my usual OCD tweaking and perfecting of the design, she fell in love with the following logo:

The Final Website Design and Social Media Branding

Raelene really wanted a website that made customers feel comfortable—like they could kick off their fancy shoes, curl up, and chat with her over a cup of coffee. She wanted it to feel super outgoing, fun, casual, loyal, and dependable.

We achieved this by:

Utilizing her brand colors and playful design elements throughout— We sprinkled her playful color palette throughout the website and added extra playful details throughout the web copy and pages.
Social media kit: Facebook Cover Photo, Profile Pic, and branded email signature—Once we’d nailed down Raelene’s brand and her website design, we took that same style, look, and feel and carried it onto all of her social media platforms

Ready to share price sheet for any email inquiries (and print ready to hand out)— Anytime you brand your business, it’s important to carry that brand throughout every item a potential client might come into contact with or every place he or she might find you. We designed an on-brand price sheet that Raelene can easily send (or hand out to) any potential client who inquires.
Welcome kit to answer any questions couples might have— This welcome kit provides another opportunity for potential clients to engage with Raelene’s brand on an even more personal level. It provides more details and answers potential questions plus cuts back on correspondence and lays the foundation of her boundaries and client experience.

For Raelene, we also built a custom ShowIt site. This is a website platform specifically for photographers that does an excellent job of showcasing photography portfolios.

Launching Raelene’s Site and Keeping On Top of Her New Look

Once I’d designed her website and after all the techy stuff and designs were approved, I started building her site (pink hammer and all).

I always build the homepage and the base template first. This way we can finalize the overall design aesthetic and work out the overall feel. So once the homepage is approved, I carry the design throughout the rest of the website.

We used her brand elements and patterns to spice up her photography images and website copy.