Flatiron Search Partners is a talent search firm that helps consumer brands find and place executive talent.

Flatiron approached us to revamp their brand, messaging and digital experience. They had an impressive team and notable clients, but their site didn’t effectively communicate their value, experience and credibility.

While a somewhat atypical client for us, we were excited by the opportunity to clarify their positioning, offering, and digital identity.

One of our principles is that good design starts with effective messaging. We start every project understanding what to communicate, and only then, how to enhance it through visual design.

In this case, Flatiron Search Partners was delivering a less than compelling message on what they do, how they do it, and why they’re credible.

As an example, here’s an excerpt from their old homepage:

“We operate at the intersection of extraordinary human-capital management and high-performance businesses, and our sweet spot lies within the ever-growing category of aspirational, customer-centric organizations. We partner with high-growth companies to develop and execute talent strategies that fuel growth and build enterprise value.”

Crafting a message that resonates

We start every project with a messaging and competitive audit. This step is critical in developing a coherent understanding of our client’s offering, customers, and competition.

After our audit, we move into content strategy and architecture. As part of this process we distill copy into effective, succinct messaging.

The original site showcased four offerings: executive search, staffing, advisory and capital.

In our discovery process we learned that advisory and capital were secondary services and provided on an ad-hoc basis. We also found that executive search made up 70% of their volume, while the remaining 30% was staffing.

Flatiron Search Partners excelled at finding high-caliber, executive talent for consumer brands, and we wanted that message to ring clear. We tightened their message to focus exclusively on executive search and staffing.

We have a very high bar and the Forge team was absolutely incredible. Very collaborative, very thoughtful and definitely helped us think out of the box in a modern, streamlined way. Their entire process felt geared toward fast-moving, high-growth, and upscale brands. Couldn't recommend them more strongly.

Joe Miller

Partner

Revamping the website

The goal of the website was two fold:
1. Appeal to a modern consumer brand executive through a clean and professional visual identity
2. Present the offering and impact through clear, effective messaging

We focused on key messaging and impact to highlight outcomes. This was information previously buried in sales decks, but important in establishing credibility.

We chose a color palette, typographic system, and designed illustrations that reflected a modern, sophisticated, and consumer-friendly team.

We love projects where there is an opportunity to elevate a brand, product, or service through communication strategy and digital identity work — if that’s you, get in touch with us.