Cardinal Financial Wins W3 Silver Award for New Site

CHARLOTTE, NC, November 14, 2016 – After the successful launch of its new brand, website, logo, color palette, and more on August 23, 2016, nationwide direct mortgage lender Cardinal Financial Company, Limited Partnership wins the 2016 W³ Silver Award for its new website cardinalfinancial.com.

The company’s vision to lead and disrupt the mortgage industry by modernizing the way home loans are obtained is further realized in this achievement. While its original logo and website served their purpose in Cardinal Financial’s formative years, the company’s recent volume spikes and rapid growth made it clear that it was time to rebrand. The W³ Silver Award for cardinalfinancial.com (fondly “CF.com”) proves that the efforts made in this tremendous brand update were well-timed.

“Winning silver at the W³ Awards is a huge accomplishment for our Marketing Department and in-house design team. This group was created from scratch and has been together for less than one year. The redesign of CF.com was our inaugural major project, so earning this award is extremely gratifying,” VP of Marketing Roman Vega said.

Cardinal Financial’s new website was months in the making and a lengthy creative process that required all hands on deck. The visual design of the site was especially tricky in making the Cardinal Financial brand truths come to life.

Brand Designer Erica Ryan speaks on the personal experience she had with this project: “This was a great accomplishment for me. I definitely had some uphill battles trying to figure out how we were going to make a mortgage website sexy.”

“Although many designers will tell you that they love to chase a challenge, I really enjoyed the strategizing of CF.com just as much as the creative process. CF.com was truly my first big stand-alone site that I’ve designed single-handedly,” Ryan said.

Although the company’s new website proved to be the ultimate designer’s challenge, the W³ Award validates the team’s feelings that the hard work was worthwhile. “When I heard that we won this award, my heart smiled. All the hard work and persistence paid off. I remember when I sat down to start sketching CF.com and thought, ‘This has to be different.’ I didn’t want our users to feel as though they were trudging through a meaty mortgage site with jargon and rhetoric that stressed them out. I just wanted a clean, modern, and functional site to help guide them through an easy decision-making process,” Ryan said.

While the design team faced its own critical challenges, the Marketing Department’s web developer weathered a different storm. “I interviewed for the position of Marketing’s first and only in-house web developer in late July 2016. At that time, I was warned about CF.com launching soon and knew that if I got the job I was going to be the one to spearhead the launch,” Full Stack Developer Neil Camm said.

“On August 22, nearly a week before the website launched, I walked in the company doors and got right down to work. It was a mad dash and I was worried about the heavy responsibility that fell on my shoulders so soon on the job,” Camm said. “Thankfully, we were able to successfully pull it off without a hitch. This W³ Award just means that all that chaos was truly worth it. I’m proud to be a part of this team.”

“I feel that CF.com deserves this award, as does our team, because this was our chance to put Cardinal Financial on the map. Definitely a proud moment, not only for myself and my career, but as an in-house creative team,” Ryan said. “With excellent, skilled people around, like our copywriter Laura Lopez, it makes designing that much more fulfilling. I’m proud to have won this award for myself and the team because it proves that we can do this!”

It’s clear that not just the website’s launch, but winning the award, is a major breakthrough for Cardinal Financial and its Marketing Department. “The W³ Award is great validation that we’ve hired the right people and we’re fulfilling our plan. When you hire top-level talent and foster and develop a culture of creativity, good things will come,” Senior VP of Marketing Colin Treend said. “This award is validation that we have a talented team and they are working in a culture that allows them to do their best work.”

So, will we see more in this arena from Cardinal Financial in the future? “I loved the creativity and collaboration that went into this project—and I’m hoping we can win many more awards for this site and the others following!” Ryan said.

About Cardinal Financial

We started Cardinal Financial with a passion for developing a better mortgage experience. Our proprietary loan origination software, Octane^®, is a sure advantage, but we soon found out that revolutionary technology only goes so far without revolutionary people. We place a premium on hiring talented, forward-thinking, entrepreneurial spirits who are committed, not only to reimagining the possibilities of mortgage lending, but to delivering a personal experience to every borrower every time. We take a tremendous amount of pride in our people because they’re what sets us apart from the rest. Our culture is strengthened by self-starters who look forward to coming to work every day and are willing to go the extra mile for their colleagues and their clients. Cardinal Financial is where your career meets your calling. Join us and be a part of something more than mortgage lending. For more information about Cardinal Financial, visit cardinalfinancial.com or follow us on social media: facebook.com/cardinalfinancial and @CardinalFinancial on Instagram.