hand & herz
Freelance Designer
Branding, Website
2025
hand & herz—Crafting words for life’s defining moments.
About the Collective
hand & herz is a collective of professional speakers who write and deliver personalized ceremonies for the entire circle of life. Unlike traditional providers who often specialize in just one area, their work spans the full emotional spectrum. They accompany couples on their wedding day with joy, preside over naming ceremonies for newborns, and guide families through funerals with dignity and grace. Their craft is rooted in deep listening: they interview clients to create unique speeches that honor the reality of the people involved—whether in celebration or in mourning.
Defining the friction between the legacy identity and the company's reality.
A Disconnected Visual Identity
The founders no longer felt represented by their own brand. The existing visual language relied on dated, heteronormative clichés and romantic tropes that did not reflect their modern, inclusive values. The team needed an identity that moved beyond the traditional "bride & groom" image to welcome a diverse range of lifestyles and identities.
The "Niche Trap"
The heavy "wedding aesthetic" had become a business liability. It acted as a trust barrier for potential clients seeking support for funerals or serious life transitions, who often felt alienated by the celebratory visuals. The core problem was how to expand the brand's reach without confusing the existing customer base.
Conflicting User Journeys
The existing website architecture was unable to handle the complexity of the service offering. With one group of users arriving in grief and another in excitement, the digital experience lacked the necessary logic to guide these opposing emotional mindsets to their respective destinations without friction.
The strategic takeaways that defined the new visual direction.
Structure as a Form of Empathy
I realized that a brand serving both deep grief and high joy cannot dictate the emotion—it must hold space for it. Vulnerable clients need stability, not decoration. Therefore, we defined "structural clarity" as a core emotional value. The identity acts as a steady anchor: a neutral, supportive container that reduces cognitive load and gives users a sense of safety and guidance, regardless of their emotional state.
Direction: Warm Modernity
To break the "wedding bubble," the strategy dictated a pivot from romantic clichés to authentic human connection. The new direction focuses on substance over style: abandoning script fonts and pastels in favor of a grounded, characterful aesthetic. This "warm modernity" ensures the brand feels professional enough to handle serious life events, yet approachable enough to celebrate love—positioning the team as companions for all of life.
Establishing a solid architectural foundation before applying visual design.
Laying the Groundwork
Before diving into colors or typography, the priority was to translate my strategic insights into a functional skeleton. The first step was creating detailed wireframes for the new landing page. This low-fidelity approach allowed me to focus purely on content hierarchy and user flow, removing the distraction of aesthetics. It served as a crucial alignment tool, giving the founders a tangible proof-of-concept and the confidence that the new structure effectively solved the complexity of their offering.
Desktop Wireframes H&H #01
Crafting a visual language that balances human warmth with professional clarity.
Typography with Nuance
The identity is anchored by Monarch Nova, a typeface chosen for its rare ability to feel confident yet gentle. Its subtle curves and tiny irregularities give it a human touch—a warmth that is neither overly joyful nor overly solemn, allowing it to hold the emotional middle ground perfectly. For body copy, I paired it with Wix Madefor, which offers the "radical clarity" defined in the strategy while echoing Monarch Nova’s rounded, organic forms.
The Logo: A Symbol of Connection
The logo found its natural form in the distinctive ampersand (&) of the Monarch Nova typeface. It immediately resonated with the founders for its inherent symbolism: the circular strokes represent the circle of life, the partnership between the founders, and the close bond with their clients. This symbol became the brand's memorable anchor, paired with a clean, unadorned wordmark to ensure the identity remains coherent, timeless, and free of unnecessary decoration.
Colors: A Distinctive Palette
To break away from the industry's pastel standard, I chose a blue-centric palette—an atypical choice that creates immediate distinction. The primary blue is confident and saturated, but the key lies in the nuance: the darker shades shift subtly toward violet. This intentional hue shift prevents the palette from feeling cold or "corporate," infusing the deep tones with a unique emotional warmth. To ground this, I introduced organic neutral tones reminiscent of paper—a nod to the physical speeches they deliver. These soft backgrounds replace sterile white, adding a necessary tactile, human quality to the interface.
Illustration & Imagery
To avoid the binary trap of photography—which inevitably signals either "wedding" or "funeral"—I developed a custom illustration library. These hand-drawn visuals focus on the process of writing itself: personal, attentive, and crafted. To bring them to life, I applied a subtle frame-by-frame animation where the outlines cycle between slight variations. This organic movement mimics the natural imperfection of a human hand, reinforcing the metaphor of stories taking shape while adding a layer of quiet, living energy to the site.
Launching a unified brand that authentically bridges the gap between celebration and farewell.
Website: The New Digital Home
The final website brings every strategic decision together into a cohesive experience. By combining the new information architecture with the "warm modern" visual language, the site now serves as a calm, confident guide for every visitor. Whether a user arrives in joy or grief, the interface feels welcoming and appropriate—transforming the website from a simple service list into a genuine extension of the founders' empathy.
Impact
The rebrand successfully dissolved the "wedding filter" that had previously limited the business. The founders reported an immediate shift in how they are perceived: they finally feel fully represented by their own identity, giving them a renewed confidence in their outreach. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with the new aesthetic attracting a more diverse range of inquiries and effectively positioning Hand & Herz as holistic companions for the full spectrum of life.
© 2026 Tom Wabner.
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