A Website Design branded Christmas

It wasn’t many moons ago that the new Website Design Ltd branding and website launched. We said so long, farewell to the old light blue box with the chunky slab serif ‘WDL’ and hello to a modern, recognisable brand. Rolling out our new branding was no small feat; we updated the website, social media, email signatures and email templates, proposal documents, internal document templates, business cards and the list goes on.

Next on our agenda though was Christmas, creeping up earlier and earlier every year. For 2022, we’ve opted for a Website Design branded Christmas, making use of new styling, paired with a Christmas touch. While, as a company, we want to celebrate Christmas, that’s no reason for us to let branding slip. If we’re saying Merry Christmas to you, this year, you’re going to know who’s saying it from the design alone.

I’ll be transparent with you, come November time, when the Christmas designs were in my schedule, I already had a pretty good idea of what was coming. Back when Richard and I were working on our new branding, I had an idea neither of us was going to forget.

The tree

The staple of the Christmas decoration, the thing you have to get down from the loft in a box that barely fits through the hatch; the Christmas tree. Trafalgar Square to Albert Square, it’s the focal point of the Christmas aesthetic and we decided we’d follow suit this year.

Taking the ‘W’ mark from our logo, adjustments were made to transform it into a Christmas tree. Even after a simple rotation, the mark starts to take a shape not too dissimilar to a simplified tree graphic. We could’ve left it there, but it needed further consideration, it needed detail and decorating.

First, I removed the shadows and adjusted the shapes for a more familiar structure, adding a trunk to the tree too. The shadows were then added back in, with a little tweaking to ensure they complemented the structure of the tree. Once the tree was up, along came the decorations, using secondary colours from the new brand colour palette.

While we’d set out for a Website Design branded Christmas, we were still open to changes and Christmas trees are often green, so we did have a look at options here. The green approach definitely still works and retains a nod to our branding with the shapes and slanted shadows. Ultimately, we felt the blue kept this year’s Christmas designs more in line with our branding and with the branding being relatively new, changing the colour, even just for Christmas, would be too much of a departure.

In the mail

It’s estimated that Royal Mail delivers around 150 million Christmas cards each year. Unfortunately, there aren’t any accurate stats on the number of eCards sent. Considering our own company eco pledge, we’ve opted for a Christmas eCard, reducing waste and avoiding any unopened cards left sitting on the office doormat over the Christmas period.

Our Christmas eCard this year, while not physically coming through the letterbox, has been designed with a traditional aesthetic; we’ve stamped it and put our tree on kraft paper (always a nice touch).

Branding up Christmas

Why stop with just a tree? We’ve also taken a couple of other iconic Christmas elements and applied the Website Design branding; a bauble and a wrapped present. Perhaps next year we’ll make that wrapping paper and bauble a reality.

So there you have it, a branded Website Design Christmas. While our logo did lend itself very well to the Christmas tree, there are plenty of other ways you can apply your branding to the joyous festive season. If your business hasn’t sent or prepared anything for Christmas and wants to (firstly, you’re cutting it fine), maybe a branded eCard is just what you need.

It’s also worth asking the question; why stop with Christmas? There are plenty of seasonal celebrations throughout the year, waiting for your branding. Me? I’m quite looking forward to a selection of Website Design Easter eggs.

Please also note our Christmas opening times. We’re closing at 1pm on Friday 23rd December 2022, reopening bright and early on Tuesday 3rd January 2023.

Merry Christmas!