Casteel

Discovery
workspace.

Everything here saves for everyone, live. Pick your name to start.

CasteelFinancial
 
The Workroom
0 open decisions
0 to do
What this isOne place for planning, decisions, and the discovery questions, instead of four different documents.
How it worksType an answer, react to a direction, tick a box. It saves instantly for everyone. Nothing needs approval, nothing here is final.
Where to startTry Discovery first, answer a few questions, then react to the five visual Directions.

Where things stand
A running list, not an ask
Lately
Visits

The plan.

Four months, six stretches of work, one fixed date at the end.

Five directions

A few examples, just to get you thinking.

Real brands, real work, not mockups.

Concept worth studying

Found on Behance, not a live brand

A design concept for a fictional Swiss private capital firm called VALTHERA — a portfolio case study, not an operating company, so this is here for craft, not as a sixth real-world territory. Worth studying: the oversized wordmark used as a section break, the rust/oxide accent against near-black and white (close to what we’ve already been circling), and real environmental photography instead of stock. Worth leaving behind: it’s cold and guarded throughout, which is the opposite of established without stuffy, local without small. See the full case study ↗

Live embed from Behance — needs a connection to load, and shows the whole case study (some of it site screens, some of it process and mobile mockups, not all of it the actual website).

Concept worth studying

Heliyon, another Behance case study

Another wealth brand strategy concept, portfolio piece not an operating firm. Needs an actual take on what to study and what to leave behind, the way we did with VALTHERA above. See the full case study ↗

Live embed from Behance — needs a connection to load, and shows the whole case study, not just the module you linked.

Concept worth studying

A third Behance case study

Another one worth a look, same placeholder note as Heliyon above — needs an actual take. See the full case study ↗

Live embed from Behance — needs a connection to load.

Just for fun

Not brand direction. Just what came up when we talked about it.

None of this is a real pitch, none of it needs a reaction, and the Steel Curtain one is here specifically because it's against the rules above — it made us laugh, so it's staying as a bit. Drop actual photos into the Drop folder on Files if anyone digs any up.

Mike Rowe
If Casteel had a spokesperson: dirty-jobs, no-nonsense, respects the person doing the actual work. That's the audience — hardworking and straightforward, not a job title.
Travis Pastrana
Not local (he's from Maryland), but the energy is right: a regular guy who went and did something extraordinary. Worth a laugh, not a casting call.
The spa exit feeling
What if a client left a meeting here the way they leave a good spa — calmer than they walked in, not just informed? Less a joke, more a real question for how the office and the meetings should feel.
The Steel Curtain mascot
Everything the brand rules explicitly rule out. A gunmetal linebacker in a cardigan. Never happening, permanently funny.
Genuinely nice mugs
Not a giveaway-bin freebie — a mug someone would actually keep on their desk. Fits the restrained-materiality idea better than most swag would.
Local honey
A jar of real Greene County honey with a Casteel label as the annual client gift instead of a desk calendar. Owns the place without being a cliché about it.
Shortlists

Who designs the logo, and who takes the photos.

I started with 30+ logo designers, narrowed it to 17, and sent them all the full brief. Most have now quoted, so I've sorted them into top picks, ones in the mix, and last picks. I'd love a quick look from each of you before I decide. Tap a reaction on anyone who jumps out, good or bad, and leave a note if you want to say why. Ultimately I'll make the call, but I want to know if something really resonates with you, or really doesn't.

Where my head is at. I love a fun, personality-filled website, logo, and identity, and I'd love for us to lean into that instead of the crisp, clean "wealth management" typeface you see everywhere. I'm picturing a really cool, modern wordmark for Casteel, plus a separate icon or small element with personality that we can have fun with on the website, animated on the homepage or faded into the footer.

What I'd love from you:

  1. Does anyone jump out at you, good or bad?
  2. Which vibe feels more like us: thin, elegant, and boutique, or bold and fun with personality in the letters? Or a mix?
  3. Is there anyone you'd cut right away?
Logo designers
The final four, side by side

Both calls happened Oct 15, and we're deciding between Contraponta and San. Nastya is the backup. Click any image to see it larger.

Contraponta, through a designer's eye

The stronger designer. They make custom marks with ideas behind them (Carina Health, Rondo) and build full systems (Strong Company Culture). Their style runs flat and bold, with no texture shown, and there are craft slips like a typo in their own showcase.

The brand they showed on the call was plain and safe. Gallery 1401 shows they can do restrained work with real character.

San, through a designer's eye

The stronger stylist. Great atmosphere and confident luxury type, and MMC's sliced letters are a real idea. Much of the mood comes from stock and AI imagery and ready-made mockups, and a copied bio line shows templated work.

Casteel's texture will come from our own photography and the topo map, so styling matters less than the mark and the system.

Notes under each project:strengthconcernneutral

Top picks

Prices are what each designer quoted after reading the brief. Fiverr inbox last checked Oct 14, 3:15 PM.

In the mix
Last picks

Either too thin for our scope, quoted before reading the brief, or quiet so far.

Photographers
What the shoot needs

Whoever we choose needs to shoot real people in their real places, plus the land around here. That's closer to documentary work than a family or senior session. Bonus if they can shoot short video clips, too.

Local photographers I'm looking at
Hayley's suggestions

Hayley's experience with these three is mostly dance, senior, and family photos.

A long shot

Passing on: Ben McMillen (McMillen Photography), not the style I'm after. Ross Mantle, too pricey.

Discovery

Everything that helps us learn who the firm actually is.

Homework and the running question bank.

Homework
Three things worth doing first
Questions
Things worth thinking about

Tap any question to answer it or read what's there. The six marked START HERE matter most; ones tagged THINK IT THROUGH are better sat with alone than answered on the spot.

Decide
Needs deciding

The blocking questions. Anyone can add one, and tick it when it's settled.

Color

Which of these feel like the firm?

Pulled from the Directions brands and the area itself, mixed on purpose — not a proposed palette. Vote for what feels right, or pin a few to see how they'd sit together.

Pinned combinations
Personality

How Casteel should sound.

Warm before polished. Direct before formal. Plainspoken before impressive.

Discovery Day confirmed it: people responded to big, clear type and a plan they could see, not the cold, buttoned-up comparison site. Joshua already leads with a word like fiduciary and translates it into plain English on the spot — that instinct should be the brand's default voice, not a habit.

Established without sounding old. Local without sounding small. Room to grow past Waynesburg without pretending to be a national firm it isn't yet.

The audience is values-based, not occupation-based — hardworking and straightforward matters more than what someone does for a living. Say it that way. “Blue collar” is useful shorthand for us internally; it reads narrow and a little condescending in actual copy.

Concepts

Work in progress.

As things get made they'll appear here for a quick yes or no, with a place to say why.

Priority

What we're actually doing next.

Live

What's actually out in the world.

Not everything here is finished — some of it's a placeholder, some of it's real. The point is one place with the actual link, so nobody has to go hunting for it.

Launch list

Everything that has to exist by January 1.

Signage, print, digital, internal. Tap a status to move it along. Nothing here is committed scope, just the working punch list.

Files and links

Where everything lives.

Drop things in whenever you find them.

Export everything
Every answer, note, vote, and open item in this room, as one plain-text file. Download it, then hand it to Claude to read through and work with.
Download export
The Thinking Behind Casteel
Joshuah's own brand notes — mission, vision, ideal client, positioning, tagline candidates. The go-to reference for a lot of what's in here.
Open PDF
Brand platform
Who we are, how we talk, and what to say while the name changes. A working draft, updated as decisions get made.
Open PDF
Discovery Day run sheet
The plan for the day: schedule, who was in the room, and what got covered.
Open PDF
Drop folder
Logos, old print pieces, photos. Nothing needs renaming or sorting.
Open folder
Client data
CRM exports. Bands and ranges are fine, no client names needed.
Open folder
How this works

Three things worth knowing.

Everything is live. Tick a box or type an answer and the others see it within a second. No sending, no saving, no attachments.
Nobody owns a section. If you have an opinion on something, add it even if someone already answered. Disagreement is useful.
Heidi can see it any time. So there's no need to tell her you've done something, and nothing here has a hard deadline beyond the timeline up top.
Connecting…