Grantsimple
Brand & Web Design
Created in collaboration with:
Kristen Visser, Grantsimple – Client & Key Collaborator
Suad Sarjlic, 101 Keys – Web Development
Sometimes you start a company because you just can’t take it anymore. There are industries that are so stuck in their ways that they need someone to shake things up.
That’s what Kristen at Grantsimple brought to us, and together we created a brand that does anything but play
it safe.
Meet Kristen Visser
Kristen is the founder and CEO of Grantsimple. She reached out to us for a brand refresh and new website for her company. After talking with her for a few minutes, we could already tell she had a personality and vision that needed a brand to match it.
Kristen told us about how Grantsimple was founded because she saw so many ways to help improve not-for-profit fundraising, but nobody else was doing it.
That honesty and directness is what we came to admire most about Kristen, and it’s what she helped us make the focus of her new brand.
Leaning into being bold
After we presented a set of concepts to Kristen, it was immediately clear that she wanted to be bold. She helped lead us towards embracing strong, impactful design and just through talking with her in our meetings, some truly powerful statements she made became the core messaging of the brand.
What we ultimately landed on is a look and tone that matches Grantsimple’s core values perfectly: unappologetically honest, while being helpful and informed.
When you’re excited about
your brand, you come up with better ideas
With a newly finished brand, Kristen was eager to start working with the logo and design assets while we were still supporting Suad at 101 Keys with the website development.
This excitement about her brand ultimately inspired the approach taken for the visuals on the Grantsimple website, which in turn helped inform future advertising and marketing visuals. We can’t take credit for the first spark of inspiration here – that’s just what happens when you’re energized by your brand and want to share it with the world.
What we learned together
Working with Kristen and her team at Grantsimple was incredibly rewarding. Her openness and engagement with our process meant we had everything we needed to build the perfect brand for her.
Kristen helped us appreciate how much easier it is to communicate when you embrace honesty and own your ideas – even if it might ruffle some feathers.
We rarely have clients own their brands so quickly – before we were even completely finished with it – like Kristen did. We think she immediately saw the difference between just having a logo and having a brand that really embodies who you are and what you value.
If you work in the not-for-profit space and are looking for fundraising help, we hope you’ll reach out to Grantsimple. We really believe in their ideas and what they do!
