Profile

Overview

Profile connects executives across industries and role. It rapidly grew to become Guerrero’s most popular brand after its launch in 2009. Four years later, its identity was falling apart from growing pains. It looked haphazard, inconsistent, and unprofessional.

I joined Guerrero to lead Profile’s rebrand. As the editorial design lead, I collaborated with the senior editor and photographer to redefine the publication.

Process

Backtracking to include readers

Profile prides itself on agnosticism and promotes cross-functional business education. These characteristics are central to the brand’s ethos, but they also resulted in a scatted content experience. 

When I joined the magazine team, the senior editor had begun to address that issue by creating a new editorial structure. However, Profile’s readership had not vetted the new approach. 

My first act on the redesign team was to ensure we were on the right track. I analyzed exiting readership data and gathered reader testimonials to validate the new editorial structure. I then synthesized this audience research to create a set of proto-personas. The proto-personas became an essential alignment tool on the redesign team, helping us strike a visual tone that would resonate with our readership.

A tone that harnesses, but does not constrain

The new brand balances a gridded framework with a dynamic visual library. The logo is firm — like a CEO in the face of a big decision — and the colors are energetic — as a leader must be to maintain support and growth. The publication design prioritized a consistent visual voice while still allowing for custom-designed feature packages. You can view the brand guidelines here.

A new channel for engagement

With the launch of its new identity, we identified an opportunity to engage Profile readers on a more personal level. As a result, we launched Insight, a weekly e-newsletter. I was a key contributor to Insight's content strategy and led its visual design. I also crafted its templates in MailChimp and trained designers in Insight's style guidelines.

Insight establishes Profile as an authority in the executive media market. It promotes the magazine's features and curates content relevant to business leaders, emergent and established alike. Insight also provides executives a space to write essays and share first-person stories. This opened up a new line of revenue for the magazine.