Highlighting what makes Herrera unique

Headquartered in Seattle, Herrera Environmental Consultants (Herrera) has spent more than 40 years designing nature-based solutions that protect ecosystems and strengthen communities. Their work spans the Pacific Northwest and beyond, helping entities turn environmental goals into high-performing infrastructure with lasting impact.

Herrera’s brand has recently been designed in-house by talented graphic designer and project PM Nicole Trolio, and the website needed to honor that brand while evolving the expression. Hansen Belyea’s role was to build on that foundation that Nicole had developed.

Expanding the brand, while feeling on-brand

The new website needed to better showcase Herrera’s services and expansive environmental work while being easy for the internal team to manage and update. From a design perspective, the site needed to be modernized while still feeling on-brand. Additionally, it needed to be a powerful recruitment tool, showcasing Herrera’s culture, impact, and employee experience in a highly talent-constrained market. One goal of the site was for it to attract new talent with the company’s unique benefits, like their Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and interesting projects.

High-impact website photography that differentiates

Herrera made a strategic investment in custom photography to elevate their brand on the website. We collaborated with their team to develop a detailed shot list, provided art direction on-site, captured hundreds of photos, and then worked to integrate select imagery into the design of the website that brings their people to the forefront while reflecting their deep respect for the environment and the communities they serve. The result is a visual narrative that tells Herrera’s story in a way words alone cannot, creating a richer, more immersive visitor experience.

The Hansen Belyea Team was taken on a Seattle-wide tour photoshoot to capture the Herrera team at work in their headquarters in bustling South Lake Union and across job sites that spanned their services. We captured moments along a creek in West Seattle, staged surveying work in the Washington Park Arboretum, and documented fieldwork in South Park. With team members participating from across the company, the shoot felt energetic and collaborative. The Herrera team was open, engaged, and eager to try different shots, which helped bring the work, and the people behind it, to life. Along with project photography, Hansen Belyea photographed updated leadership headshots.

A website that expresses their ambition

The site now mirrors the quality of their work, supports their internal processes, and positions them for continued growth. For Hansen Belyea, this project was a chance to showcase how strategic design and thoughtful implementation can honor another designer’s logo and brand foundations across the most visible expression of their brand, their website.