Tools Used: Figma, Photoshop, Webflow, Dreamhost, CSS, JS, HTML
GOAL
Rachel Weinstein is a Toronto-based executive coach with experience working with leaders at Google, Deloitte, and Scotiabank. She needed a website that functioned as a digital brochure that confirmed her credibility and established a professional presence.
CONSTRAINTS
Site had to function as a one-person operation and a personal brand.
Tone had to balance relatability and directness for the American market she was expanding into.
DELIVERABLES
Full website covering services, about, testimonials, and contact.
Developed in Webflow
Collaboratively developed content layout plan and copy
WHERE WE STARTED
Rachel came in with a clear sense of who she is, and what she does. She needed a modernized website that reflected her experience. Before we could really start we needed to understand her business, her clients, and what the site needed to do.
Discovery & Scoping
What it Revealed: A structured client discovery meeting covering Rachel's business model, services, tone preference and constraints revealed the site's main focus being confirmation of credibility for warm referrals.
Precedent Analysis
What it Revealed: Reviewing comparable executive coaching websites and professional service websites to understand what signals credibility revealed that most coaching sites over-explain and undersell. Letting Rachel's track-record speak for itself was the goal.
Platform & Technical Research
What it Revealed: Evaluating hosting and builder options against Rachel's need for client independence, predictable cost within her budget, and potential integration options showed a Webflow exported site into Dreamhost was the right call.
Codesign Session
What it Revealed: Several hero mockup variations were printed and reviewed with Rachel in an annotated feedback session, marking up what she liked, disliked, and wanted to merge. This helped inform the layout plan & visual direction.
WHAT IT MEANT
Three things that discovery & ideation made clear:
RESTRAINT
Rachel was clear: no popups, stock photography, or "we" language. She didn't want the business to feel inflated or that it was something its not. The design had to be confident enough to let the work speak for itself.
TONE
Rachel was actively expanding into the American market. Direct, results-forward language was important to balance with the warmer and more understated voice she had built her reputation on. The copy framework had to hold both registers.
CREDIBILITY
Rachel's clients don't find her through Google. Warm, networked leads need confirmation over sales. This website was designed to solidify the reputation she already had, and show that she is exactly who people think she is.
A PERSONAL BRAND
Rachel had an existing logo and preferred color palette, but no cohesive visual identity behind it. Using the codesign session output, her existing burgundy color set, and our meetings, I built out a visual direction that felt like hers. Zoomed-out portraiture, clean type, and a color system that balanced warmth with authority were grounded in one principle: this needed to look and feel like Rachel, not a faceless company.
A DELIBERATE VOICE
Rachel's natural instinct was warm and relational storytelling. As she was actively expanding into the American market where direct, results-forward language reigns supreme we rebalanced the copy framework to develop main headline directions: authoritative and proof-driven, outcome-focused, and empathetic.
BUILT AND LAUNCHED
The final site was developed in Webflow with custom CSS/JS animations, exported, and uploaded to Dreamhost where it can be managed through FTP. Ownership was important, and we wanted to avoid ongoing platform fees or vendor lock-in.
NEXT STEPS
A few things I would push further if I had more time…
VISUAL IMAGERY
The site was built around photography Rachel had available at the time. Given a larger scope, formal photography covering multiple shot types, settings, and wardrobe direction would help imagery be cohesive with the system.
COPY REFINEMENT
The tone framework balanced Rachel's natural voice with market positioning, but never went through a formal review with someone embedded in that market. Given more time, I'd run the final copy past other professionals.
TESTIMONIAL SYSTEM
Rachel's testimonials are her strongest asset, but currently exist as static text. Given more time, I'd develop a more considered testimonial system Rachel could easily add to herself as she finds new engagements.
