Software Advice is a business unit at Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT), a global business research and advisory company. Operating within Gartner Digital Markets, Software Advice focuses on providing resources and insights to small and midsize businesses alongside its sister businesses—Capterra and GetApp.
Software Advice's niche is in its one-on-one consulting services for software buyers. With its team of software advisors, Software Advice connects with business owners to guide them to personalized software recommendations based on their unique needs.
The previous messaging was "software selection simplified", which reinforces the business' goals of making the software buying search as seamless as possible. However, it did not holistically reflect the human-to-human nature of Software Advice's business model.
This was the defining element of the Software Advice rebrand: leveraging the idea of "real advice from real people."
The Rebrand
In Q4 2018, the Creative Team within Gartner Digital Markets began its campaign to rebrand Software Advice with "real advice from real people" in mind. In Q1 2019, after various iterations to visually communicate this message, I conceived the Portal System for the brand expression.
The portal system visualizes key moments in the process of the Software Advice buyer’s journey: unsure of how to start their search, the buyer calls us. They then speak with an advisor, the advisor provides recommendations, and in the end both the buyer and advisor are happy.
Of course we couldn't just build our entire brand expression off of stock photography!
In Q4 2019 I took part in art directing a photo shoot of some advisors from Software Advice's team and some hired talent to represent the buyers. This is how we were able to build out the portal system, as depicted above.
Above is an animated illustration concept I created. The intention was to house this on the website's homepage as an interactive experience to visualize how Software Advice works in a whimsical way.
Creative Direction
Ladon Roeder
Ladon Roeder
Art Direction
Travis Francis, Garvin Grullón
Travis Francis, Garvin Grullón
Brand Strategy
Rachel B. Lee
Rachel B. Lee
Brand Expression
Travis Francis
Travis Francis
Design System
Travis Francis, Garvin Grullón, Rosie Ettenheim
Travis Francis, Garvin Grullón, Rosie Ettenheim
Illustration
Gustavo Bouyrie
Gustavo Bouyrie
Video Production
David Bukstein, Jared Schaubert
David Bukstein, Jared Schaubert