Bath-based web agency Mud has launched a new website for Streathers Daynes Smith (SDS), a new North London law firm with local resonance, built around a new brand identity created by award-winning London branding agency SomeOne.

The new site went live in September alongside the launch of the new firm and its brand, and serves SDS’s four high street offices in Crouch End, Hampstead, Highgate and Islington.

Mud handled research and strategy, UX, prototyping, design, content strategy, content design, front-end development and Craft CMS development, and hosts the site.

You can see the new site at streathersdaynessmith.co.uk, read the full case study on Mud’s website, and see SomeOne’s side of the story in their In Your Corner project.

A New Firm and a New Brand

Marking the appointment of two new partners and a fresh departure from the original founder, SDS is a new firm rooted in its North London locality. SomeOne – the agency behind the London 2012 Olympic pictograms and brands for Eurostar and the Royal Opera House – developed the strategy and identity, centred on the line “In Your Corner”.

The idea is simple: City-level legal expertise, delivered from the high street by people who know the neighbourhoods they serve. The identity brings that to life through painterly, oil-painting-style artwork of SDS’s North London locale, a heritage-inspired colour palette, and handwritten-style type paired with a modern serif.

Sidestepping the Usual Law Firm Website

The brief made it clear the website needed to sidestep the corporate tropes common across the legal sector while still signalling the quality high-net-worth clients expect from the brands they use.

Mud’s answer was to “frame” SomeOne’s artwork, letting it do the heavy lifting within minimal, refined layouts that borrow from luxury brands. A subtle grid, sparing use of the brand’s more expressive elements, and scroll-based colour transitions from dark to light guide visitors through the site. 

Short, plain-English copy and photography of the firm’s own people then help visitors reach the right specialist quickly, rather than putting a contact form between them and the firm’s solicitors.

Matt Powell, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Mud, said:

“Law firm websites have a habit of looking much the same, so it was a treat to work with a brand this distinctive. SomeOne gave SDS something with warmth and personality, and our job was to frame it properly, giving the artwork room to breathe, and making sure the quality comes through on every screen.”

A Tight Timeline

With the September launch date already set in stone, the team had to get up to speed with the new brand quickly.

Ashley Quinn, Marketing & BD Manager at Streathers Daynes Smith, said:

“What made their work even more impressive was that they joined the project halfway through, giving them significantly less time than originally planned to get up to speed and deliver the end result. […] The final website is exactly what we hoped for: visually impressive, user-friendly and easy to manage. The Craft CMS backend has made updating the site incredibly straightforward, and the handover process was seamless.”

SomeOne were pleased with the result, too. Simon Manchipp, Founding Partner at SomeOne, said:

“I wanted to say how pleased we are with the way you have interpreted the branding for the new website. Seeing it alongside the old materials really highlights what a brilliant team can do and how fantastic your team are.”

About Mud

Mud is a Bath-based web design and development agency, and one of the UK’s earliest Craft CMS Verified Partners. The team designs and builds websites for organisations across the UK, with services spanning digital strategy, UX, website design and development, and ongoing support and optimisation. Find out more at ournameismud.co.uk.

About Mud

Our name is Mud. We are a creative web design agency based in Bath, specialising in Craft CMS. We bring a down-to-earth feeling to web design. A feeling that builds trust, focuses on the detail, and delivers meaningful work that has a big impact.