The client
Graham Bartlett is a former detective and now a crime fiction and police advisor to authors and TV writers as well as a Sunday Times best selling crime writer. With the impending launch of his first crime novel, Bad for Good, I was commissioned by Graham to update his visual branding.
Working together with social media marketing experts, Social Daze, we advised Graham that a fresh, contemporary look would be crucial in appealing to crime writers seeking his expert advice about police procedure and protocol, as well as existing clients.
The idea
In my initial ideas, I wanted to strike the right balance – having subtle references to Graham Bartlett’s work as a police advisor and crime writer but without straying into hackneyed clichés about police work such as flashing lights and crime scene tape.
The favoured route was one of the most subtle. Having followed Graham’s social media accounts, one post talked about “the thin blue line”, a term that refers to the concept of the police as the line which keeps society from descending into violent chaos.
The visual depiction of “the thin blue line” typically used a black background and reflex blue line, which approximates to the blue of emergency vehicle lights. I wanted to move away from this colour combination which felt opressive and too literal. Instead, I opted for a lighter blue and slanted the ‘thin blue line’, using it as a device to separate Graham’s name and role.
Next followed an exercise to find the ideal colours for the blue line and typography, as well as the typeface itself. I shared options with Graham and Social Daze, and together we made a final selection.
Website
Once the branding direction had been agreed, we could begin work on the website. With Graham, website developer Jas Sheridan, and Social Daze, we worked on updating the website’s content, identifying priorities, and adopting a very user-centred approach. Graham Bartlett’s website can be viewed here.
The content was organized into small sections to maximise pace and interest for visitors to the site. I alternated background colours from white to pale taupe to emphasise the move from one section to the next.
I developed a typographic hierarchy for headings, sub headings, body text and buttons. Using this, I designed all the pages for the site, and put together a design style guide for the web developer, to help her as she built the pages in WordPress.
Once the website was completed, I worked on a suite of assets for Graham Bartlett, including social media templates, flyers, stationery, and updating the design of Powerpoint presentations for his online crime writing workshops.
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