SWBF
Bringing clarity to an established finance brand
OUR WORK > SWBF Brand Refresh & Website Design
Light brand refresh, website design and a clearer online journey
South West Business Finance had already built something incredibly valuable: a strong reputation, trusted relationships and a highly experienced team.
With more than 400 years of combined commercial banking experience, SWBF helps businesses and property professionals navigate funding decisions with clarity, confidence and proper human support.
But the brand and website no longer reflected the business it had become.
The identity needed updating, while the website needed to bring together SWBF’s different areas of expertise in a way that felt clearer, more current and easier for potential clients to navigate.
Rather than throwing away an established and recognisable brand, we helped SWBF move it forward.
The result was a carefully refreshed identity and a completely new website that gives the business a clearer, more professional and more confident online presence.
The project at a glance
Client: South West Business Finance
Sector: Business and property finance
Support:Light brand refresh, website strategy, design and development, content restructuring, SEO migration, business cards, roller banners and branded email signatures
Goal: Modernise the established SWBF identity and create a clearer website that brings together its people, expertise and finance solutions
A strong reputation with a website that had fallen behind
SWBF had grown significantly since its original brand and website were created.
The team had expanded, its experience had deepened and the business had developed a strong reputation for helping clients secure and structure business and property finance.
However, the website was no longer presenting that story as clearly as it could.
Visitors needed to be able to understand the difference between SWBF’s Business Finance and Property Finance services, discover the range of funding solutions available and quickly see the experience behind the business.
The site also contained years of useful articles, case studies and information that needed to be retained.
The challenge was therefore not simply to create something newer.
It was to build a more effective online home without losing the recognition, content and search visibility SWBF had already established.
Evolving the brand without losing what people recognised
An established brand carries value.
Change too little and it can begin to feel dated. Change too much and the familiarity and trust built around it can easily be lost. For SWBF, the right answer was a light brand refresh. We retained the recognisable colour palette and familiar hexagonal element, while refining the logo, typography and overall presentation to give the identity a cleaner and more contemporary feel.
The refreshed identity also gave greater clarity to SWBF’s focus on Business and Property Finance, helping communicate the breadth of the business more immediately. The result still felt recognisably SWBF, but more polished, flexible and better suited to the next stage of the organisation.
Making complex finance easier to understand
Finance can be complicated. SWBF’s website didn’t need to make it feel any more so.
We planned a clearer structure that separated Business Finance and Property Finance into distinct journeys while keeping the whole business connected beneath one consistent brand.
Key pages were reorganised to help visitors understand who SWBF supports, the challenges its advisers can help solve and the different finance solutions available.
The new website also introduces SWBF’s four-stage approach: Listen, Structure, Source and Support.
This gives potential clients a simple picture of what it is like to work with the team and reinforces an important point: SWBF does more than find a lender. Its advisers take time to understand the situation, structure the right solution and support the client through to completion.
Clearer calls to action now make it easier for visitors to speak to an adviser or request a call back when they are ready.
Bringing the people and experience to the forefront
SWBF’s greatest strength is its people.
The new website gave us the opportunity to make the team more visible and communicate the depth of knowledge available across the business.
We created a clearer team area, introduced updated photographs and reorganised individual profiles so clients could learn more about the advisers behind the name.
The website also provides a stronger home for SWBF’s values, Women in Finance work, client case studies and industry news.
Together, these sections show that SWBF is not simply a finance brokerage. It is an experienced, relationship-led team that cares about giving clients the right advice and supporting them from beginning to end.
Protecting the past while building for the future
Starting again didn’t mean leaving everything valuable behind.
Existing news articles and case studies were carefully migrated into the new website, helping preserve SWBF’s established content and search engine value.
The new site was developed to work clearly across desktop, tablet and mobile, with a more manageable structure that can continue to grow alongside the business.
A brand needs to work wherever people encounter it, not just on a screen.
We carried the refreshed SWBF identity across new business cards for the team, branded roller banners and a consistent set of HTML email signatures for all 23 members of staff.
This gave SWBF a more joined-up and professional presence across meetings, events, emails and everyday client communications.
The team embraced the new look so completely that they even had branded biscuits made. We can’t take credit for those, but when your new logo makes it onto a biscuit, you know it has settled in rather nicely.
What changed
A familiar brand with a more modern presence
The refreshed logo, refined typography and updated visual presentation gave SWBF a cleaner, more contemporary identity without losing the recognition and trust already attached to the brand.
A clearer journey through business and property finance
The new website brings SWBF’s services together while giving Business Finance and Property Finance their own clear journeys. Visitors can now understand the available support, explore the team’s expertise and find the right next step more easily.
A more consistent presence across the business
From the website and team profiles to business cards, roller banners and branded email signatures, the refreshed identity now feels consistent across the wider organisation. SWBF has a professional platform that better reflects the strength of the business today and gives it room to continue growing.
Protecting the past while building for the future
Starting again didn’t mean leaving everything valuable behind.
Existing news articles and case studies were carefully migrated into the new website, helping preserve SWBF’s established content and search engine value.
The new site was developed to work clearly across desktop, tablet and mobile, with a more manageable structure that can continue to grow alongside the business.
We also carried the refreshed identity into a new set of branded HTML email signatures for the 23-person team.
This helped create a more consistent experience across the website, individual communications and the wider organisation.
“The new website brings together everything we do under one clear, modern and professional brand. I think it’s outstanding.”
Natalie Charteris, Operations Director, SWBF
Is your website giving your business the credit it deserves?
Your business may have grown, changed direction or developed new services, but your website doesn’t always keep pace.
You may not need to discard everything and begin again.
Sometimes, the right combination of brand evolution, clearer messaging and a more considered website can help people see the strength that was already there.
If your brand or website no longer reflects the business you have become, let’s talk it through.
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Tell us what’s happening, what you’d like to improve or what you’re trying to achieve.
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