The Client

FourSquare

FourSquare has produced premium parts for the medical, aerospace, aviation, and industrial fields since 1989. They’ve stayed so successful over the decades thanks in part to a big advantage: the ability to engineer and create custom molds – which are used to create custom parts.

Every step of production is handled in their facility, from first sketches and custom designed molds to engineering, flow analysis, part production, and shipping.

What We Provided

Web Design & Development
Logo Refresh
Brand Identity
Photography

The Challenges

It’s a common dilemma in manufacturing.

As a business, FourSquare was ready to branch out even further into key markets. But they wouldn’t be poised to do so until their website and brand were both in better shape.

The FourSquare site was overdue for a user experience (UX) overhaul. Weak color contrast, cluttered backgrounds, and disorganized information kept their services unintentionally underwraps. And the original name, logo, and messaging no longer offered the vitality necessary to stand out.

Logo & Name Adjustment

Sometimes, less really is more. And FourSquare’s refreshed visual identity was the perfect example of how a restrained approach can be a more disciplined and effective strategy.

Rather than overhaul, we aimed to elevate and modernize by streamlining the original graphic elements and exploring a new color palette. The final adjustments included slight color modification, improved spacing, a new font, and dropping “TRE” from the FourSquare name.

The final product is still recognizable, but better suited to the style sought by clients in highly regulated industries, like the ones they often partner with. The enhanced treatment also allows for a streamlined appearance and application.

Brand Story & Messaging Development

Graphic design is an essential part of any successful brand. But so is all of the behind-the-scenes work it takes to understand the heart of an organization internally, as well as its current market position and vision for the future.

FourSquare wanted to explore those foundations, which is what our Brand Development process is designed to do. After holding a workshop with a few key stakeholders, we later presented our findings in a Brand Playbook, which included an audience analysis, tone of voice, and brand characteristics summary.

We took everything we learned and synthesized it into a brand story FourSquare can use to succinctly and compellingly sum up their identity, making it a great guiding resource, an addition to their About Us page, or a quick pitch to potential partners.

Web Design & Development

With the brand refresh already completed, the Idea Kraft web development team was able to start the next phase of the project with a strong sense of direction – about the future of the FourSquare brand and their target audiences.

A clean, streamlined design reflects FourSquare’s reputation for premium quality, professionalism, and dependability. Especially for industries like the medical field, intentionally-placed white space communicates a high level of attention and regulation.

We were also able to drastically cut down on stock imagery by coordinating an on-site photoshoot, capturing high-end images of FourSquare’s equipment and impressive facility in Conklin, New York.

We created a better user flow throughout the site with a more intuitive page structure and system of internal linking that is designed to encourage users to explore the site, reducing bounce rates and deadends. And making potential clients more likely to take that next step.

“One of our biggest challenges in completing the project was having the time to provide direction and input to their creative process. The team at Idea Kraft did a great job keeping the process moving forward and creating a top notch website. We certainly appreciate all their efforts. They went above and beyond!”

Rick Haddock, President of FourSquare