Nice & warm

The holidays are HERE! We are in full end of the year mode, getting projects wrapped up before Emerald's holiday break. The Emerald office is closed from 12/23—1/3. Taking time to rest, recharge and reflect on 2024 helps us better support our clients in 2025.

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Emerald winter break plans❄️

Charlee is sticking around Indy and maybe demoing her bathroom🔨

Leah is visiting family in Ohio and spending the rest of the holidays in Chicago

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As a team holiday gift we ordered beautiful, handmade jewelry from a recent client, Leela Grace Jewelry (below, peep the jewelry we're wearing!) Highly recommend if you're still on the hunt for a gift! Read on for the Client Spotlight and all the fun design details!

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​Charlee & Leah

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From our #random slack channel

• Fascinating story behind Yankton Dakota artist, Mary Sully's work. Reminded us of the story of another posthumously recognized Chicago photographer, Vivian Maier.

• Somebody make this: Wirecutter for groceries​

• Gap's old school holiday campaign is hitting. More really nicely designed ads right this way.

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🔦 CLIENT SPOTLIGHT

​Leela Grace is a small, woman-owned business that handcrafts jewelry in Boulder & LA to open hearts, enliven souls, and promote positive energy. They came to us ready to take their business to next level.

Our approach was to clarify core values, define clear differentiators and craft a brand story that speaks to Leela Grace’s audience.

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Brand Design

The brand was inspired by the whimsical and joyful approach Jennifer brings to all pieces she designs.

Our goal with the brand design was to keep the essence of the brand and evolve it to match where Leela Grace is headed.

Logo Evolution

Logo details

💫 Kept the swirl but cleaned it up for legibility while still maintaining the perfectly imperfect hand-drawn effect

💫 Replaced the serif typography with a vintage-style typewriter font which feels whimsical & romantic

💫 Added texture and gradient to the swirl, ensuring it felt tactile

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Color palette

We chose a color palette that felt like looking at a sunset. We wanted it to be fully captivating and powerful. It was also important that the color palette would fit well with all of Leela Grace pieces, no matter the design of the collection.

Typography

Vintage-style stamp typeface, loaded with hand-drawn traits and subtle inconsistencies.

Gradient and texture

We added a subtle grain texture to lifestyle photography and all brand gradients. This ensured the photography felt cohesive, from phone photography to professional photography. We provided Leela Grace with a large library of still and animated gradients.

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WEBFLOW WORLD🌎

NEW FEATURE

Bot Prevention

Webflow's new Bot Prevention feature runs seamlessly in the background, blocking unwanted form submissions without compromising data privacy or affecting the user experience. Finally!

We have begun implementing this new feature onto existing client Webflow sites.

CURRENTLY

🎥 Leah is watching ALL the good-good and good-bad holiday movies

🕯️ Charlee is perfecting hygge this cozy season