Behind Treepz New Website: Quick chat with Our Graphic Designer, James Samuel

Behind Treepz New Website: Fireside Chat with Our Graphic Designer, James Samuel

It’s always fascinating to get a peek behind the curtain and learn about the inspirations and creative processes for a new website design and brand identity. We recently had the pleasure of having a quick chat with James Samuel, our graphic designer to discuss his artistic vision behind Treepz’s bold new website and brand identity refresh. Read on to discover highlights from our entertaining discussion.

Can you walk us through your creative decision-making process for Treepz new website? 

Sure! You know the colour for Treepz from the brand guideline is yellow. But if you start to look through the site, you’ll see some touches of orange. Usually, I start my way by considering what looks visually appealing to the audience first, before delving into the meaning and potential impact of design elements in terms of the brand personality, tone, and voice of the brand. In case you’re trying to understand the meaning and the psychology behind the colour orange that I incorporated in the design, well orange promotes socialisation and this aligns perfectly with Treepz’s mission.

What design element would you say you prioritized for Treepz new website?

Personally, I think for me to revisit a website, there has to be a bit of consistency on every page on the website. With this in mind, I ensured that on every page of the website, there is no street illustration or pavement illustration that is different from another. Every payment has orange in it and every building has a touch of yellow to it. So there’s sort of this consistency with how the illustrations were put out. My guiding question during the design process was ‘If the Treepz logo and illustration were removed, would a layman still understand what the website is about?

How did you illustrate Treepz’s story on the website?

Treepz is a corporate mobility startup with a global presence, operating in various countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Uganda. To capture this, I brought together different monumental buildings from these regions into a single illustration to sort of depict the fact that Treepz is present where these buildings are. Yeah, that’s what I did and I think the illustrations on the site were very important because you can’t even get that effect with photography. So, we had to bring something flexible enough, to portray this idea while at the same time paying attention to the colour palettes from the brand guidelines.

How did you apply Treepz’s identity to the new website design?

The main idea was to create a business-oriented environment through illustrations rather than a residential one. If you look through the website, you’ll notice numerous business buildings from different parts of the world, as well as corporate people with briefcases. This design approach was intentional to project both a professional and business-centric atmosphere, which aligns with Treepz’s corporate mobility solution.

How has this creative process impacted you as a designer?

It’s been an amazing journey to delve into Treepz’s brand ethos and develop visuals that authentically capture corporate mobility and socialization across the various countries we operate in. Drawing from such rich inspiration while distilling it down to the essentials was challenging but incredibly rewarding. I’m excited to interact with Treepz’s new website designs and continue pushing the creative boundaries.

Can you share your thoughts on Treepz as a company since you joined?

One aspect I truly appreciate about Treepz is that we don’t solely focus on working “in” the business; we also dedicate efforts to working “on” the business. While we strive to secure bus rental requests (working in the business), we also prioritize enhancing the customer experience, improving our online presence, building our SEO, and continuously evolving our brand (working on the business). The word I would use to describe Treepz is “constant development,” and if you work with Treepz, you’re in for the experience of a lifetime.

How did you start your journey as a graphic designer?

Wow! That’s a long story. Basically, it began with a need to express my creativity at age 16. However, due to my family background, graphic design wasn’t considered a respected profession that would make my parents proud. As a result, I studied civil engineering during my undergraduate studies, even though it wasn’t my dream. After completing my degree, I decided to pursue graphic design to prove to my parents that you can be creative and make a living out of it. It was a bold move, but one that allowed me to follow my passion and pave my own path in the creative industry.

What are your top 3 design tools?

My go-to tools are Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Framer. Framer is a no-code platform for building websites, which I love because it allows me to bring my designs to life seamlessly. Photoshop and Illustrator are the two software tools I primarily use for designing.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your designs?

I spend probably 60% of my time on Pinterest and 10% on Behance, immersing myself in a constant flow of visual stimuli. The remaining 40% is shared between YouTube and Instagram. These are the major platforms I draw my inspiration from to keep my designs fresh and innovative.

Share your impactful portfolios at Treepz

1. Website Illustration: Treepz website illustrations were a milestone for me. Handling all illustrations for the new website was very challenging and fun, being my first project for Treepz. I also had to deviate from the brand colours by introducing Orange, and the result turned out amazing.

Behind Treepz New Website: Impactful portfolios at Treepz

2. AFCON giveaway campaign: I’m not a football fan, but my passion for it was ignited during the period we organized the AFCON giveaway contest. I was tasked to create contest designs for each match and winner announcement. I enjoyed every bit of it as I got to memorize every Nigerian soccer player while working on them daily.

Behind Treepz New Website: AFCON giveaway campaign

3. Social media designs: As Treepz Graphic Designer, I am responsible for the overall visual Identity of the brand. Designing creatives across our social media platforms is one of my major tasks. Though it took a little to get the hang of how the brand guidelines would influence the social media designs, my team members were instrumental in ensuring a smooth onboarding process.

Treepz new website:  Social media designs

Kudos James! We can’t wait to see more of your creative designs and growth at Treepz.

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