Challenge
Distilling volumes of expertise into a highly accessible wealth advice book
Right out of the gates, our two key objectives with this book were clear:
- Deepen Northern Trust’s relationships with their existing clients
- Serve as a unique and compelling way to attract new clients
In collaboration with the Northern Trust team, we outlined a project vision: to write the definitive book on wealth management, filled with trustworthy, research-backed advice and compelling stories based on the Institute’s 135 years’ worth of experience, delivered through engaging, visual, and actionable content.
Our mandate was to make it relevant for their three target audiences: multigenerational families, business owners and executives, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
Now here’s the pickle.
When trying to speak to such a varied audience, you run the risk of diluting the specificity of the advice. In other words, “When you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.”
Solution
Beautifully designed, easy-to-read, and much, much more than another marketing asset
Working with dozens of Northern Trust’s experts in tax law, wealth management, and family dynamics, we collected all the information that a wealthy family or individual might need to prepare themselves for life’s most significant moments, bringing real-world (and anonymized) case studies to bear throughout.
Once we curated the written content to hit the right trusted and accessible tone, we moved to colour, typography, and infographics.
Bold colour added vibrancy and a connection to the client’s brand and served to help wayfinding and pacing; large display text further helped create entry points for the reader. All of this was wrapped in a strikingly sophisticated cover. Premium materials—brand-coloured forest green linen, gold and white foil, and debossing—created a true showstopper, while the interior, printed on luxurious uncoated paper and finished with a gold ribbon bookmark, offered a rich, tactile experience in keeping with the bespoke offerings of Northern Trust.
Result
A cherished object to share among generations
Dare we say—it turned out to be a true page-turner. Expert insights are presented in a clear, accessible way, while the design, rooted in the client’s strong brand identity, is eye-catching and makes the entire book a delight to read. adds visual interest and enhances readability. The result is a highly sophisticated book—rich in valuable information, respectful of all levels of financial literacy, yet warm and broadly inviting. More than just a resource, it feels like a cherished object, one to keep and pass down through the generations.
One more cool thing...
Landing with a thud
In 26 years of creating beautiful, compelling books, this was a first—a client with no desire to limit the word count or reduce the final number of pages. In fact, one of the many measures of success was that the finished book would “’land with a thud.” At 320 pages, printed on luxuriously thick stock and bound in weighty boards, it delivered exactly that. And yes, we tested it to be sure.
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