DockYard

We always love working with DockYard. They are a fully remote design and development agency that frequently gives talks and hosts events for the Ember and Elixir communities. We worked alongside their team throughout this multi-month long engagement.

This website redesign was all about finding their new style. We had a lot of fun brainstorming with their team about their vision and what they wanted the brand to express for their business needs. We started by working off of key words and prompts from their content team.

We had a lot of fun collaborating with their content, project management, design and development teams on each of the various illustrations.

Here you can see some of the initial style directions that we explored. Each style still aligned with the company's concept and values, but showcased them in different ways. We decided to explore the same sketch in these various styles in order to narrow down on the look and feel, before sketching out the remaining concepts.

We looked at inspiration across various mediums in order to explore a variety of unique styles and treatments. We looked at inspiration across children's books, editorial illustrations, and modern product illustrations. Each style would bring a different brand message attached to it.

In the end we wanted to focus the company on a sleek, modern style that would lend well to the current market. We leaned into curves, gradients, and harsh shadows.