The brand identity design process
From a blank slate to a brand that fits you perfectly, here's how it works:
1. Kickoff
Get in touch
Fill in the form on my contact page.
I’ll set up a quick call to get to know you and discuss your project. We’ll go over the big picture, what you’re aiming to achieve, and how I can help.
Proposal and contract
After our chat, I’ll send over a proposal for the design package we’ve agreed on. Typically, it looks like this:
50% payment is required to move forward
50% payment is due after the work is completed (due within 15 days)
2. Brand Finder
Prework
Before we dive in, I’ll send over a short questionnaire. This gives you time to pull your thoughts together and get everything down on paper.
Discovery Call
Next, we’ll have a deeper conversation with you (and any other stakeholders on your team). We’ll dig into your business—your goals, target audience, competitors, and what makes your brand stand out.
Research
I’ll review your existing branding (if any) and look at your competitors to see where we can differentiate. I’ll also gather some visuals to help shape the direction we want to go with your design.
Brief
All the insights from our conversation will be summarised into a brief. This document gives you fresh clarity about your business and helps guide the design phase. You’ll get to approve it before we move ahead.
3. Design
Now the fun part—I’ll create the overall look and feel for your brand. We’ll look at your messaging, logo, colours, fonts, shapes, and images all together to get a full picture of your brand in action. This helps us see the big picture rather than picking things out one by one.
Sometimes there are a couple of different options for key elements, like the logo. Together, we’ll choose what fits best with the overall vibe we’re going for.
We’ll review everything during a screenshare session, and I’ll walk you through the reasoning behind each decision. I'll also send you a PDF of the presentation.
4. Refinement
Since we’ve laid a strong foundation, the first round is usually pretty spot on. But if needed, we can make some tweaks in the next few days to get it just right.
5. Style guide & assets
Finally, I’ll put together a brand style guide that outlines all the key elements of your brand—logo, fonts, colour palette, images, layouts, and more. This will be your go-to document for keeping everything consistent as you move forward, whether you’re working with other designers or creating new materials yourself.
Timeframe
For a typical brand identity project, allow 4-6 weeks. If naming, finalised templates, packaging or marketing pieces are included, add an extra 1-5 weeks.
