SBS Nova

Smart Business Services (SBS) works as the outsourced accounting and finance department for businesses, nonprofits, and associations across Washington DC, Northern Virginia, Baltimore, and Delmarva. Since 1998 it has grown from bookkeeping into payroll and benefits, tax preparation and planning, association management, marketing and administrative support, and startup services, run from offices in Fairfax, Virginia and Selbyville, Delaware. Its clients stay for decades. Its website, built on a dated WordPress theme, didn't show that.

I designed the SBS logo in 2006. A lowercase teal wordmark sits above a red italic tagline, "innovative outsourcing.", with a fan of yellow, orange, and red rays rising from the bottom corner. The rays read as a sunrise and as many services fanning out from one partner, which is the business in a picture.

Twenty years later, the logo was still doing its job, so the 2026 website redesign builds around it. The logo's teal became the hero ground and link color, and I added a gold for buttons and a charcoal for type and dark sections so the warm colors in the mark have something to sit against. Fraunces headlines with italic emphasis give the pages a confident, human voice next to plainer Instrument Sans body text. The home page leads with what SBS actually replaces: "Your finance department, without the overhead," next to a month-end close checklist showing the work already done.

The site has eleven pages: home, about, a services overview, a page for each of the six services, SBS Delmarva, and contact. A single Menu button opens a panel that lists every page, so visitors can reach any service in two clicks without a crowded header. The about page puts the owner and the full team of ten up front with photos and credentials, because the people are why clients stay. Scroll effects add some motion and switch off for visitors who set "reduce motion," and every page has its own tablet and phone layout.

• One brand from logo to website. The site's palette and type grow out of the logo, so the mark finally looks at home on screen.
• Every service in two clicks. The menu panel and services hub give each of the six services its own page instead of a single long list.
• The team in front. Ten staff profiles with photos and credentials show the dedicated people clients work with every pay period.
• A clear next step on every page. A free consultation button sits in the header, the hero, and the footer.
• Launching end of 2026. The new site is built and scheduled to replace the dated WordPress theme on sbsnova.com at the end of 2026.

• Logo
• Color Palette
• Type System
• 11-Page Website
• Services Hub
• Team Page
• Responsive Layouts

• Visual Identity Design
• Information Architecture
• Responsive Web Design
• Accessible Motion