Some web sites have big mouths. Others, such as this offering from Denton Wilde Sapte, have lips which are very tightly pursed indeed.
Want a firm which doesn’t bullsh!t? Which plays cards close to its chest? Which won’t turn up to represent you sporting a garish suit, a panama hat and a bottle of Pimms under its arm? Then welcome to DWS, the folks to whom (apparently) garrulousness and ostentatious branding are anathema.
That said, there are some signs that DWS has considered its corporate identity. There’s a logo (no spaces between words) that’s in an interesting typeface. That’s proceeded by ellipses, which are almost coquettish in the questions they suggest but refuse to answer. (Do they mean that there’s more to DWS than just D, W and S? That its lawyers are habitually trailing away, modestly, into silence?) These ellipses are also mirrored in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, which is a nice, if minimalist, suggestion of balance and control.
There’s also a computerised image that echoes the logo’s orange colour and accompanies a quote from Legal 500. (A modest, quote, too. It says that DWS is ‘influential’. No gauche hyperbole here.) Interestingly, the image itself looks a bit like something out of eighties sci-fi classic Tron.
Other nice bits are a standard intro which has been re-written to attract the recession audience, and a blisteringly clear update of recent news and publications.
All in all, there’s something quietly impressive about this. It’s suggesting the firm is down-to-earth, prizes clarity above everything and doesn’t need to rely on gimmickry to prosper. But perhaps there’s room for just a shade more personality – something that convinces us that this representation is a deliberate approach rather than, perhaps, the absence of any agreement over what kind of firm DWS really is?
The ellipses hints at a promise of something bigger than the logotype, doesn’t it? Almost as if they’re leading you somewhere. I like the fact that they chosen something that’s suggests considered brevity, too; the stripping away of purposeless prose. In isolation, i like the way the full points mirror the rhythm of those three quite evocative and phonetically-pleasing words.
Like Olswang, DWS uses an interesting balance of black and orange, the combination of stoic and vibrant, classy and sassy. I get the impression that the firm leans more towards measured assurance rather than bold assertion as well. The colour palette seems to reflect that rather well.
I don’t know who works on the brand but I think it’s one of the strongest in the UK 50.
I agree with Andrew that there needs to be a shade more personality here. Or any at all in fact.
The site is remarkable in that the navigation is very clear – a constant bugbear with law firms who often see their ‘personal’ information (like, er, how many people they have on a particular team, for instance) as something to be jealously guarded against poachers rather than an opportunity to show what they have to offer.
It’s a shame as DWS is a firm with a great deal of personality, generally greatly liked and respected by other lawyers and still rated by junior lawyers as one of the best places to work at – oh, and has one of the highest ratios of female partners in any of the top firms.
Is white really the best colour to display one’s diversity? (no pun intended)