CLIENT PROJECT

Inner Mooring Therapy

Inner Mooring Therapy is a telehealth practice serving older adults, offering supportive, grounded mental health care. The client was looking for a brand and website that felt calm, trustworthy, and subtly nautical—without being overly clinical or on-the-nose. Inspired by their connection to the coastlines of Maine and Oregon, the visual direction aimed to reflect clarity, comfort, and emotional depth.

Branding, Website, & Collateral
SERVICES

Visual Branding & Identity

Website Wireframing in Figma

Website Design & Development in Wix

Print Collateral

Client Communication & Project Management

DESIGN PROCESS

Discovery & Moodboarding

1

Design & Development

3

Site Mapping & Wireframing

2

Visual Identity

4

Jump to the final design.

PROCESS

Discovery & Moodboarding

In the Discovery phase, I worked closely with the client to define the brand’s core values, visual tone, and audience through a design questionnaire. This helped establish a clear direction, identifying key themes and visual cues to guide the design process. I learned what the client was looking for in a website and what they wanted to stay away from.

Key Takeaways from the Questionnaire:

  • Brand Keywords: Introspective, Joyful, Nature/Sea, Security, Peaceful, Confidence, Home

  • Audience: Educated, older adults (all genders) seeking a peaceful, secure space for healing

  • Purpose: Self-promotion of the therapy practice and certifications

These insights shaped the overarching design goals, ensuring the final product would speak directly to the audience while aligning with the client’s mission.

  • Create a Balanced Visual Identity: Develop a brand that combines professionalism with a soothing, approachable tone, reflecting trust and comfort.

  • Responsive, User-Friendly Website: Design a website that is easy to navigate, fully responsive across all devices, and accessible to the target audience of older adults.

  • Nature-Inspired Aesthetic: Incorporate calming elements of nature, particularly the sea, to evoke feelings of peace, security, and connection.

  • Minimal yet Informative: Use minimal text paired with simple, clean imagery to provide clear, approachable content that feels welcoming.

  • Color and Typography: Utilize a palette of blues and greens to create a serene environment, supported by sans-serif typefaces that offer clarity and readability.

  • Supporting Print Materials: Design business cards that complement the website and visual identity, ensuring consistency across all brand touchpoints.

Design Goals

Moodboard | Grounded, Coastal, Warm, Sensory, Peaceful

Competitor Analysis

I conducted a competitor analysis of three therapy practice websites that my client referenced in their design questionnaire, paying close attention to the elements they didn’t like. The analysis revealed several common design patterns across the industry:

  • Hero images featuring nature and calming images

  • Large section headings with a CTA

  • A moderate amount of white space

  • Navigation typically placed in the upper right or center for ease of use

While these sites followed a familiar visual formula, my client felt they looked too cluttered, overly clinical, and relied too heavily on text. These insights directly shaped the design direction for the new website.

Design Direction

Based on the competitive analysis and client preferences, the design direction focused on creating a calm, welcoming website that feels personal, not clinical, and easy to navigate. The target audience is older adults so this is taken into consideration here as well.

  • Simplified, content-light layout to reduce overwhelm and improve clarity for users, especially older adults seeking therapy.

  • Calming visual tone using soft, nature-inspired imagery and colors to support emotional ease and approachability.

  • Spacious and uncluttered design with intentional white space to improve readability and user focus.

  • Friendly, professional typography that feels trustworthy without being cold or overly formal.

  • Streamlined navigation and user flow to guide visitors to key actions like learning about services or booking an appointment.

PROCESS

Sitemapping & Wireframing

I utilized this sitemap as a collaborative tool with my client to visualize the site’s structure. It allowed us to prioritize key content and ensure a clean, concise layout. By referencing the sitemap throughout the design process, I was able to organize information into clear sections based on hierarchy and weed out anything unnecessary. This approach helped us keep the site focused, and ultimately, the client decided to remove the FAQ page, as most questions were already addressed within the site’s content.

Using the sitemap as a guide, I designed medium-fidelity wireframes in Figma to establish the overall structure and flow of the website. My client emphasized a desire for strong visual elements, so I focused on integrating imagery in a way that supported the content without distracting from it. Visitors to a therapist’s website are often exploring their options—trying to understand the therapist’s approach, specialties, and whether they might be the right fit. So with that in mind, I prioritized clear, approachable content and intuitive navigation. I also made sure to include at least two calls-to-action on every screen to make it easy for potential clients to get in touch. This helps reduce friction for users actively seeking support while also supporting the therapist’s business goals. The wireframes were key in shaping the overall layout and gave the client an opportunity to review and provide early feedback on the structure and user journey.

PROCESS

Design & Development

Once the structure was finalized in Figma, I moved into Wix to bring the site to life. I built each page to be responsive by testing across screen sizes to make sure everything felt clean and easy to navigate. While working with Wix, I ran into a few layout and spacing limitations. I worked around those by manually adjusting section structure and refining visual elements to keep things balanced and aligned with the overall aesthetic.

During development, I also made subtle updates to the original color palette and typography to enhance readability and brand personality. I paid close attention to content blocks and white space, especially since my client wanted a calm, welcoming tone that didn’t feel clinical or overbearing.

I regularly checked in with my client throughout the build to review updates and make changes together. These collaborative reviews helped us stay aligned and gave space for small improvements, like simplifying content blocks and fine-tuning visual consistency across the site. I also made sure the site was accessible by using readable fonts and strong color contrast throughout.

PROCESS

Visual Identity

When I started exploring logo concepts, I wanted the identity to feel approachable, balanced, and visually tied to my client’s background. I went straight to Illustrator and used it as a sandbox to try out different directions. The zen rocks concept was inspired by my client’s background as a certified yoga teacher and felt like a natural visual to represent mindfulness and groundedness. I also played with sunset imagery and abstract nautical elements like a rope and mooring post, but those either felt too literal or didn’t quite match the vibe we were going for.

Eventually, I started experimenting with the initials “I” and “M” for Inner Mooring. When placed side by side in a soft, flowing script, they naturally formed the shape of a wave and sun, which felt calm, approachable, and tied to the coastal inspiration behind the brand. It struck the right balance of being meaningful without being too literal, and visually unique while still feeling grounded. My client and I both felt this direction captured the feeling we were going for. It was a simple, elegant solution that spoke to the therapeutic nature of the brand while also reflecting my client’s connection to water and coastal living.

Logo & Branding

I wanted the color palette to feel peaceful, natural, and grounded. I pulled inspiration from the coastal environments that mean a lot to my client, using tones that reflect water, sky, and earth, to create a feeling that’s calm, rooted, and alive.

  • Deep Sea is a rich, dark blue that feels reliable and steady.

  • Foggy Harbor is a soft blue-gray that brings a sense of clarity and calm.

  • Sand & White Sand are a warm off-white and soft, creamy off-white where each softens the space, creating an airy and inviting feeling.

  • Moss & Dune are earthy colors that evoke grounding vibes.

Together, these colors create a serene, balanced environment, fostering a sense of peace and connection to nature. I carefully selected these colors because their overall feeling aligns with the design goals – evoking trust and comfort while ensuring a calming, user-friendly experience that appeals to the target audience.

Color Pallete

Deap Sea

Foggy Harbor

Moss

Dune

White Sand

Sand

I chose the typography to match the brand’s vibe and design goals, with an emphasis on being accessible to the target audience of older adults. Together, these typefaces ensure the text is easy to read while keeping everything feeling cohesive and approachable.

Typography

For the logo, I selected Optima for the wordmark because it feels both professional and welcoming. It has clean, balanced letterforms that convey clarity, trust, and warmth. It’s elegant but not too formal, giving the brand a polished yet approachable feel.

For the Primary Typeface, I went with Times New Roman for its classic style and readability. Its serif design feels traditional, trustworthy, and professional, which helps ground the brand and feels familiar to the target audience.

The Secondary Typeface, Proza Libre, is used for headings, adding a modern, clean touch. It contrasts nicely with Times New Roman, improving readability and creating a clear visual hierarchy.

I wanted potential clients to feel a sense of calm and connection from the first moment they visited the site. To achieve this, I focused on visuals that felt personal, calming, and grounded in nature.

The client shared their own photography of coastal landscapes, lifestyle shots, and a few casual portraits, which added an authentic and approachable feel. To complement that, and to support their vision for an image-heavy site, I curated and sourced additional photos with a nautical and earthy aesthetic that aligned with the brand’s focus on calm, trust, and mindfulness. All of the photos on the site include soft blues, misty greens, and driftwood tones that reflect the natural beauty of both Maine and Oregon, where my client has lived and is licensed to practice.

Imagery

Business Card Design

I designed both horizontal and vertical versions of the business card to give the client a few layout options. They ended up going with the horizontal version, but I wanted to include the vertical mockup here too to show the full range of the concepts I explored. Both designs tie into the overall visual identity and keep things clean, minimal, and flexible for print.

Brand Collateral