Pencils remind us that ideas evolve and plans
change over time but great design is timeless.

Read more about pencils as a metaphor for Level Seven's philosophy

Level Seven is a consulting-centric technology and interactive agency.

innovative.

exciting.

transformational.

experimental.

imaginative.

cutting-edge.

remarkable.

evolving.

diverse.

imaginative.

Level Seven blends thirty years of classic consultancy expertise with the big ideas, analytic savvy, cutting-edge creative and user experience insight required in today's marketplace.

We translate insight into culturally and personally relevant content and experiences that transform brands, businesses and processes to help our clients solve critical challenges at any level.

David Leadbetter, swing coach to championship-calibre professional golfers like Greg Norman, Ian Poulter, Ernie Els and Michelle Wie needed a digital presence that supported the evolution of his golf academy from a single-location cult-of-personality surrounding him as an individual to a methodology delivered in over 20 locations on six continents.

One of The LGA's challenges lay in translating the physical experience of being at the flagship Championsgate facility into the online space. The Academy is teeming with pictures and artifacts which suggest the personalities of the great athletes which train there. The main site design features images, autographs and typography reminiscent of an iconic wall at the Academy featuring inscriptions and plaques commemorating the presence of greats like Arnold Palmer, Davis Love III and Ernie Els.

The Leadbetter

golf academy

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Like the professional golfers he's mentored through his career, David Leadbetter has large corporate sponsors that require premium placement in his communications. We worked with the sponsors and Academy management to provide Leadbetter sponsors with placement in all LGA communications across their digital properties.

A slight name change from The David Leadbetter Golf Academy to The Leadbetter Golf Academy helps support the Academy as an entity apart from David himself but keeping his last name as a nod to the founder and his instructional principles and technique.

In showcasing the worldwide reach of the LGAs instructional experience, the challenge lay in creating a user experience that melds 22 existing locations pinned by 22 very different golf resorts into a unified identity.

Our solution was to unify the language of each of the disparate programs which each had their own naming conventions for their programs. Then we devised an identity system which would allow us to standardize the identities of individual resorts into a single format using the resort logo and iconic imagery. The result is a menu of programs and a catalog of locations - subbrands, really - that both support the individual flavor of the resort and the standards one can expect from a David Leadbetter instructional experience.

The real value in corporate sponsorship is a company's ability to leverage the players' personality at corporate events. Level Seven worked to build a digital ecosystem of website, email and social media to support not only Academy and program enrollment, but also sponsor attraction and retention.

The LGA brand voice and design is carefully crafted to support both the main digital mediums and a variety of print advertising and marketing materials.

The wrist hinge is the key to clubhead lag and power shots.

The LGA Social Media program is designed to disseminate information regarding the professional exploits of LGA students and engage followers with tips on the mental game, swing mechanics and equipment discussions.

The LGA site is under a continuous program of organic search optimization with a goal of keeping the LGA at the top of the results in each academy location and nationwide for selected key words and phrases.

Yopus

college music website

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As part of our branding exercise for yopus.com, we selected the puffin as a spokesbird and mascot for the college search site. The puffin is known in ornithological circles as an industrious bird that spends a great deal of time searching its seashore breeding grounds before it selects just the right nesting site. This, we pitched, is a great metaphor for the serious college students search for the right program. It didn't hurt our argument that the puffin appears to be wearing a tiny conductor's tuxedo, either.

When our client approached us with the idea of translating their popular College Search and Career Guide for music students into a searchable online database that could help prospective music students connect with music schools in a meaningful way, the first thing we tackled was a change in identity. We pretty quickly landed on the ice of "Your Music, Your Education." We then extended that into the students' life's work - their opus. The name Yopus is a contraction of 'Your Opus'.

At the heart of the clients' business model is a very simple registration process for all users. A user is required to sign in at the start of their search, but not required to validate their email for 48 hours allowing them to use the site uninterrupted to extract value from their first visit.

Users are able to search the database by six criteria to return a search result based on their geography, program, instrument and other preferences. Every single action is recorded and associated with their user account to facilitate future delivery of customized content.

Yopus is more than a searchable database. It's a true communication portal.

The clients original annual publication, The College Search and Career Guide, was a static print publication that listed a lot of publicly available information in one resource for the higher education music student. Yopus takes that idea one step further by offering schools the opportunity to review and edit that basic information for free and then add video, images and textual content to their profile through a tiered sponsorship program.

Built with open-source technologies on the Drupal platform, Yopus is essentially an eCommerce-powered, user-writable relational database that houses a variety of data both compiled by the Yopus team and edited by the school's admissions offices. Traffic is driven through a vigorous search marketing program, continuous search optimization and the regular updating of unique content from the editors of JazzEd, School Band and Orchestra and Choral Director magazines.

Level Seven

rebranding

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In contrast to our company name, the meaning of which is not immediately apparent, we chose a design language and aesthetic motif that would provoke questions from our clients and prospects and serve as a stepping off point for a conversation about our company's project delivery philosophy.

The pencil is a metaphor for the agile process that is at once clear and defined, yet malleable over time to accommodate and even embrace change. Premiums, art, staging and cut vinyl messaging support this concept by bringing the brand promise into the physical studio.

Several videos were produced as part of the brand launch. This piece was designed to reintroduce the company to current clients and set the tone for new relationships.

In addition the the main mark, we developed a second alternative 'pill' that is used when a mark that phonetically reads "Level Seven" is desired but space is limited or inappropriate for a full logotype treatment.

The main mark is a simple form that we call 'the pill' containing the number seven which is reminiscent of the classic mark on a No.2 pencil. The form is memorable, meaningful and simple. It readily translates to color, B&W and special applications such as screen printing and embroidery.

We chose a family of logotypes and marks to be applied in different situations. One version is a stylized vertical logotype that reads well when printed on a pencil and held in the right hand.

The Level Seven philosophy highs on the ideas of change over time and collaboration among internal teams and between the client and the agency. The logotype, marks and pencil motif support the idea of change and our company name has its roots in the idea of collaboration.

There is classic research that holds that there are six levels of learning or ways of thinking. They are:

Simple Memorization
Comprehension of Concepts
Application of Principles
Analysis of Data
Synthesis of Original Ideas
Critical Evaluation

Level Seven takes its name from the company's core belief that there is a seventh, critical level missing: Collaboration.

Brilliance is rarely the product of one person working alone. More often than not, great achievements are the result of teamwork. When likeminded individuals bring their own perspectives and experiences to bear against a common challenge, ideas can turn into game-changing vision.

Better products, continuously improved with less waste
through intimate collaboration. That's our philosophy.

Read more about our Agile methodology at the Level Seven articles

software

Business challenges are never identical. We provide tailored solutions. This is the founding principle of Level Seven and has guided both our first practice - custom software solutions - and all of our other practices that have evolved since our founding in 1979.

We have always been committed to helping each of our clients identify software systems and services that exceed their requirements - not because we like to overachieve, but because we've learned that the requirements will soon exceed the original plan, so we try to find ways to build in scalability.

Read more about our custom software solutions approach at the Level Seven articles.

technology

We recognize that our clients' businesses are unique and often require unique solutions.

How often do you leave your doctor's office with one prescription? More often than not, the physician recommends a couple different drugs - and some lifestyle advice - to help ease the symptoms of a single ailment. We think that business solutions are pretty much the same. A one-size-fits-all solution is probably not going to cut it.

Choosing technologies to support your business should be a reflective rather than a reflexive process. Learn more about our platform and source agnosticism in the Level Seven articles.

staff augmentation

To stay on the cutting edge of our own business, Level Seven stays in constant contact with the best project managers, technologists, business strategists and marketing professionals in the region.

Our greater Cleveland and northeast Ohio clients can leverage the Level Seven human resources function for their own benefit by essentially renting the the expertise they need to jump start a project or round out their team's skill sets with flexible interim staffing and consulting services.

Read about the benefits of augmenting your team with Level Seven consultants in the Level Seven articles.

interactive

The Internet has won.

The web has become the most important channel in the world. This has become the place to learn, teach, reconnect with old friends, find new friends and even foment revolutions. It's not only a serious media, it's fast becoming the only media that really, really counts.

So, if you're looking to identify new customers, build relationships with your existing ones or sell things to people across the internet, you need a partner who can shepherd your brand through the design of cross-platform marketing strategies. Level Seven combines strategies, technology, creative and media to conceive attention-grabbing ideas and execute them with the right mix of innovative applications, products and platforms.

strategic services

Tactical approaches and supporting processes enable us to address your business needs.

That's our overarching philosophy. Notice that strategy is foundational to our model. The strategic services practice within Level Seven supports and informs every other practice because without a thoughtful plan, everything else is just a shot in the dark.

From agile methodology coaching to roadmapping big data solutions and integrating disparate business systems, Level Seven is able to provide strategic support to the C-suite, training for tactical teams and program execution for managers.

Level Seven

4807 Rockside Rd
7th Floor
Independence, Ohio 44131

contact@lvlsvn.com
phone: (216) 524.9055
fax: (216) 524.2594

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