Floral design is an art form, but it’s also a business that relies on a steady influx of new clients. While for some that means neutralizing their website’s style or conforming to customer expectations, floral studio Moonwake Meadow charts a different path.

Instead of diluting her brand identity to appeal to the masses, Founder Nicole Oliveira tailors her website branding to attract those drawn to her aesthetic. “The [Moonwake Meadow] website is fully a reflection of who I am as a person,” says Nicole. 

This choice isn’t just a personal expression—it’s a strong marketing strategy for attracting the right clientele rather than attracting everyone. In her opinion, staying true to your vision pays off, even if you lose some interest in the short term. We spoke to Nicole to learn more about the process she went through to create her unique branding and the lessons learned from that experience.

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Capture your true self in your branding to attract the right customers

While you should always be mindful of your target audience, you should avoid being disingenuous for the sake of appealing to a new group of consumers. It may be tempting to crack jokes and use slang or weigh in on divisive issues to drum up attention, but people tend to see right through these attempts. You’ve built a business around your passion and unique talents—why not give your brand the same treatment?

Nicole leans into her personality and aesthetic preferences when building her brand. “I want people to come to me because they like my specific style, so I try to push that out into the world,” even if it pushes a small segment of people away, she explains. 

After examining dozens of academic papers on brand authenticity, the researchers behind this study concluded that authenticity in branding encompasses two main aspects:

• Genuineness: The brand expression is truthful.

• Originality: The brand is unique and innovative.

Moonwake Meadow embodies these qualities, challenging the status quo when it comes to her website branding. “People love to go onto a website and see a really clean canvas with a neutral background and very beautiful photos,” she says. “But I love color and patterns, so I brought that in.”

Indeed, her site bursts with personality, not because the layout is avant-garde or because it features wild animations, but because her visual choices are cohesive and specific. Altogether, they create a striking and unique vision.

Something as simple as a creative font choice can bring the visual appeal that’ll lure in consumers. The Moonwake Meadow site features the Narnia typeface for headers. With letters that curve and bubble like lava lamps, each one is a work of art in and of itself. A buttoned-up business or a traditional bride might find the playfulness of the font off-putting, but those looking for a florist who is experimental and playful will feel nothing but inspired.

The color palette is similarly funky. The primary color scheme is made of a yellowed beige and blueberry-juice purple, a sharp contrast in both hue and temperature, giving the site a rich and moody dynamism. The secondary color scheme is a collection of retro hues: mustard, olive, amaro and candy-heart pink. This nostalgic influence lends Nicole’s site a lively and approachable feel—and communicates to viewers that, if they want colorful arrangements and installations, Moonwake Meadow is well-suited to bring their vision to life. 

Get personal to spark real connections

In a world where new profit-hungry brands crop up every day, purpose and sincerity go a long way. To that end, Nicole uses Moonwake Meadow’s digital platforms to consistently convey her sincerity as a founder.

You'll find a deeper connection with her passion when you explore the "Our Story" page, where Nicole shares how her upbringing in her mother's floral shop ignited her love for flowers and inspired her dream of becoming a floral designer. Her brand story not only highlights her values but also showcases the profound depth of her commitment, making her brand seem truly authentic.

This carries through to the brand’s social media—you can hear Nicole’s voice through her captions. She isn’t afraid to be vulnerable in divulging her feelings. “Seeing these photos gets me so emotional because I just remember all the heart that was put into this wedding,” she writes in this Instagram post. “[We’re] so happy to have been a part of it and create floral magic. This is why we love what we do!” 

Identify your 'why' to build a brand with staying power

It might seem like Nicole conjured her brand out of thin air, but brand development takes time and reflection. Nicole wanted her brand to reflect her adoration of the beauty of nature, but she also wanted it to be whimsical and free-spirited with a hint of moodiness. 

Her branding journey began with selecting a brand name. “I wanted something that sounded bohemian and created some sort of vision,” she explains. The term “moonwake,” which refers to the reflection of moonlight on a body of water, immediately struck her as evocative and beautiful. Combined with the word “meadow,” the two terms captured her aspiration to reflect the elegance of nature through her art.

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The logo—which functions as a symbolic representation of the business name—sits unorthodoxly on the bottom edge of the site’s hero fold and bleeds into the one that follows. It’s magical and bountiful, with Nicole’s hand holding a bunch of flowers in front of a crescent moon, butterflies adding to that delicate ethereality.

“I love it so much that I just got it tattooed,” she gushes. It was entirely her vision, but Nicole hired graphic designer Dominic Design to bring it to life. “I wouldn’t have been able to come up with it on my own because graphic work is not my forte,” she adds.

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Finally, she designed her website on Wix. “I tried to make a website on [another site builder], but it was too cookie-cutter for me,” she says. “I loved Wix because it’s so much more customizable. I designed my whole website on my own. It was time-consuming, but it was surprisingly easy.”

But yet again, she brought in a pro—Amy Chan from Three Truths Designs—to bring her vision to life. In both instances, starting on her own ensured that her brand would accurately represent her vision before she hired someone to give it a polish. The investment paid off—her site traffic doubled after she launched the new website design. “Outside of updating the photo gallery, I haven’t changed anything since,” she says.

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Nicole's perspective on her business illuminates how important it is to identify your why—and never forget it. For her, Moonwake Meadow isn't just a business; it's a personal journey and a reflection of her identity.

"My business is my baby," she explains. "It’s all I think about, it’s all I stress about, it’s everything to me." 

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