"Meet The Team" - Examples & Recommendations

For any small digital agency, their team is often the most valuable asset they have. Almost everyone will be involved in a project in some form, interacting with clients regularly on a day-to-day basis and bringing their own talents to the finished product. Whilst a big multinational may have the manpower to roll out huge web projects for numerous clients simultaneously, smaller teams can be often more manageable and adaptable, able to more quickly accommodate client requests and ideas.

Showcasing this team is often the first step to enticing any potential client to make the leap and get in contact with you. By coming across as approachable - as well as professional and knowledgeable - a potential client will be more likely to take the leap and get in contact about a new project. This is especially true of very small teams (say, 4 - 8 people), where there may not be a defined point of contact for the client and almost all members of the team will be involved at some point in the process.

Like most facets in web design, there is no well-defined ‘best’ way of creating a Team page (or an ‘About Us’ page, whatever you decide to call it). However a quick analysis of some existing ones can give us a good idea of where to start and what we should look to include.

Give a Bit of Background. Just a bit.

A few short sentences that give some background on an individual, their past work and expertise can very quickly set the tone and establish some common ground (and a few conversation-starters) for a potential client looking to work with an agency.

Campaign Monitor  waste no time with their Team page, limiting themselves to just a few quick lines about each employee and their role within the company. They also give you a flavour of their personality without going overboard (more on this later).

Tell A Story (...But Only If You Have One)

Compared to more established industries - such as print or advertising - digital agencies have only existed for a short while, so a history of the agency can quickly give a solid, experienced feel in a fast-moving industry. But chances are that most - without wishing to be rude - aren’t that  captivating.

Always-excellent Teehan & Lax  are a rare exception, weaving the history of their company into a compelling tale that details the highs, lows and lessons learnt along the way. It’s a lengthy read  but one well worth embarking on. Can you create something of a similar standard?

Show us your Interests

You don’t have to divulge your life story - quite the opposite - but taking the time to highlight interests and projects from outside of work can instantly make a team more personable and approachable.

The Paravel  team have no qualms about linking clients to their individual websites, blogs and Twitter feeds. Also listed are their own personal projects and upcoming appearances at events. Blue Sky Resume   have a similar setup, also linking out to their various LinkedIn profile pages. All of these let a client get to know a little more about each (or all) members of the team, and their personality and expertise. Important if they’re going to be dealing each other on a daily basis.

Do You Show the Whole Team?

A business decision as much as a design consideration, it’s important to ascertain early on whether you’re going to make sure that a potential client really does “meet the team”, by including everybody on the page.

A small agency (say, less than 10 people) may want to try and shake that “small” tag by only showing a key people in their team. This makes sense if those same people are the only ones a potential client might ever deal with one-to-one, with the added bonus of meaning they don’t have to divulge the exact amount of people working behind the scenes at the same time.

Conversely, it’s very easy to go the other way and show too many people. Etsy  and AtlanticBT ’s  dedication to including every last team member is commendable, but the result is a very dense and picture-heavy page that almost certainly won’t be read. Th_nk ’s layout is a different way of approaching this, highlighting key team members with larger photos.

Don’t Overdo It

Small agencies often trade on their personality and ability to stand out from the crowd, but it’s very easy to overdo it and come across looking cheap or tacky (or even worse: both).

A simple bit of animation or interactivity can help your agency stand out from the crowd - see Viens-La  or StationFour  for good examples of this -  but trying to come up with something “wacky” in order to make you appear different more than often just comes across as silly.

Most clients aren’t interested in your First Childhood Memory, Craziest Hobby or what you’re Favourite Cupcake Flavour is either. Nor whether you consider yourself a “CSS Ninja”. It’s a fine balance to strike, but a bit of discretion goes a long way.

Have you seen the Curve team lately? They're looking a little sketchy! http://t.co/YSH78iNs7t

— Curve Agency (@CurveAgency) August 8, 2013