Hood & Strong is an independent advisory, tax and assurance firm founded more than a century ago – one of the Bay Area’s original start-ups. With offices in San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Sonoma, the firm serves as trusted financial guides for individuals, private businesses and mission-driven organizations throughout the west.
Recognized as one of California’s most venerable public accounting firms, Hood & Strong has come a long way since its founding. The firm’s leadership team sought to invigorate its branding and online presence to better reflect the organization today as it prepares for continued growth in the 21st century. They enlisted MacKenzie, the firm's long-time marketing partner, to refresh H&S’ visual identity and develop a best-in-class website that embodies its enduring entrepreneurial ethos, broad expertise and distinguished talent.
Our journey began with a comprehensive discovery phase that included historical research, employee surveys and intake sessions. These insights fueled our development of a brand personality and refined messaging, as well as contributing to our overall creative direction. We introduced a new tagline, "You drive. We navigate," which encapsulates the firm's dedication to guiding clients along their financial journeys.
Our next phase focused on evolving the firm’s visual identity. We developed a refreshed “look” that presents a modern style with a classic flair – a nod to Hood & Strong’s growing services and storied legacy. This included simplifying and enhancing the Hood & Strong wordmark for a cleaner expression, with improved spacing, capitalization adjustments and less descriptor type. We also introduced a new monogram that reflects the firm’s short-hand moniker, “H&S,” often used by employees and clients. The mark provides flexibility in use for apparel, social media and other secondary applications.
In addition to developing a new logo set, we refined the brand’s established color palette and introduced a new combination of serif and sans serif fonts that speak to the firm’s past and future.
Leveraging contours of Hood & Strong’s iconic ampersand icon, we developed an abstract graphic pattern of repeating lines that provides texture, depth and movement to the firm’s brand applications. The system was developed to represent the firm’s role as a trusted guide to clients along their journeys. We also developed a custom frame to add a signature look to the brand’s photography style. The design of the image container reflects the ampersand “swash” contour and allows for use of cropped, bold imagery in website headers and advertising.
After finalizing the visual identity and comprehensive brand guidelines, we set out to develop a modern website that would showcase the firm’s deep industry expertise as well as its paths for career development. We worked closely with our development partners at Studio 22 to identify opportunities to apply the new brand and improve site navigation and overall visitor experience. Together, we designed a modern, responsive Webflow website with enhanced sections for industry insights, employee directory and recruitment.
Brand Development, Visual Identity Design, Messaging, Copywriting, Brand Guidelines Development, Website Design
