Smith Gilliam Williams & Miles
SMITH GILLIAM WILLIAMS & MILES is a law firm in Gainesville, Georgia that was founded in 1928 by R. Wilson Smith. The firm has a proud history of providing sound legal advice to businesses and individuals across Atlanta and Northeast Georgia.
A firm with a rich history and impressive client list needed a brand to match their level of service and deep investment in the community. We started with a complete brand overhaul and then moved into a total site restructuring. Having two primary audiences, 12 practice areas and 16 types of industries served, we built heavy strategy into the user architecture, employing a new site structure to carefully speak to each distinct audience.
VISIT SITE
Services:
Rebrand and Identity Design
UX/UI
Custom Website Design
Agency:
Designer, Mighty 8th Media
The concept
Having someone in your corner can inspire change and spark the fire needed to begin a new journey. It’s having someone’s full support, knowing that whatever happens, they’ll be there for you. That’s what Smith Gilliam Williams & Miles does for their clients. They’re the constant support you need. This is symbolized in the mark, with the color indicating the vibrance of having SGWM in your corner. The mark is paired with a modern, elegant sans serif to elevate the feeling of the brand.
The website challenge: the audiences
Smith Gilliam Williams & Miles is comprised of more than 15 attorneys, all who specialize in different practice areas and industries. They speak to two distinctly different audiences:
Businesses and corporations
Individuals and families
With their new website, it was crucial to create an experience that was easy to navigate for with audience types. We spent a lot of time on the strategy and structure of the website and then applied the new brand in the execution.
Information architecture: Browse by Practice Area or Industry
For our potential business and corporate clients, it was important to show the areas that SGWM practices, but also the industries they serve. We established this secondary navigation to allow users to learn more about our practice areas or the specific industry they’re in and how they might be served by the attorneys at SGWM.
Elevating the brand: Emanating shapes
To make the brand feel far-reaching and entrenched in the community, we added this subtle design and animation element to various pages.
Angles: Menu Design
You’ll see a lot of angles used in the branding for this firm. We employed this theme in the design of the desktop menu, but it also allowed clear view to the user that the menu was either open or closed.
Representation worth paying for: Our Attorneys
You’re not going to find the cheapest attorneys at SGWM and we needed their team page to reflect that. We used a lot of restraint in the design of these pages, to keep the feeling of elegance and experience.