Let’s take a deep dive into what it looks like to collaborate together!

01. DISCOVER: All brand identity projects begin with a thorough look into your business. This begins with an in-depth questionnaire that you’ll fill out that looks at your past and present, as well as your future goals. Your story needs to be told the right way to ensure that your needs and your audience’s needs are met, and this is where it begins.

02. STRATEGIZE: After I delve into analyzing your questionnaire and additionally do some research myself, I’ll put together an in-depth brand strategy outlining your brand’s passion, purpose, goals, and target market. I’ll also analyze your competition, looking at what they’re doing well and areas for improvement, so that we can discover how you can stand out from the crowd. This strategy includes a visual mood board which serves as inspiration for your identity as well as a visual checkpoint to ensure we are on the same page before moving forward.

03. DESIGN: Next, concept development begins, using the approved strategy and inspiration from the previous steps. I use a ONE concept approach because I believe this is what delivers the best and most succinct solution for your brand. This doesn’t mean that I don’t play with a variety of directions up front, because I do! It just means that I narrow it down as I go so that all of my creative energy is channeled into an identity design that is thoroughly thought out, beautiful, and truly reflects your story and appeals to your audience.

04. REFINE: Next we cycle through two rounds of refinement (after the initial concept is presented) so we can discuss and identify what is working well as well as any potential opportunities for growth. This way, at the end of our partnership you walk away with a brand that best represents you and your business.

05. BUILD OUT (COLLATERAL): Depending on the agreed upon scope of the project, it is at this point that I will design your chosen collateral items and anything else that you’ve added on. For each item, I present one concept and two rounds of refinement are then included.

06. FINALIZE: After everything created is approved by you, you will receive all of the final files in multiple formats at optimized resolutions, and brand guidelines so that you’re ready to successfully launch your new brand (or updated brand) into the world. You may use your own printer if you wish, and I will collaborate with them to ensure the files are set up optimally. If you don’t have a preferred printer, I am more than happy to provide recommendations and / or facilitate communication with them and any other creatives if your project continues on after our work is done. This is to ensure that overall brand consistency is maintained successfully across your brand and platforms.

Refer to the DESIGN section of the previous question. But to further expand, it basically comes down to quality over quantity. If I split my creative energy into 2-3 entirely different concepts, really what that means is I’m spending less time and energy on ensuring the design reflects the brand strategy effectively, and less time and energy on what should be the identity that best reflects your business. My process of designing begins with taking notes and sketching with pen and paper. Then I move these ideas onto the computer and create them digitally, continuing with a cyclical process of exploring and refining, and eventually discover the best and most succinct design solution for the project, which is firmly rooted in strategy. While I know this is the strongest solution to represent your business and target your audience, having to then dive into another 1-2 concepts generally just yields 1 strong concept combined with 1-2 concepts that are mediocre. Whereas following the path of the strongest concept and using my training, knowledge, and expertise in design and strategy to further refine this concept yields an even stronger concept overall. Additionally, design is ultimately for your audience. Offering multiple options oftentimes leads to uncertainty and subjectivity based on personal preference rather than strategy (just human nature!). By communicating effectively together to ensure we are always on the same page, and by rooting design in strategy, presenting only 1 concept leads to the best results for your brand and for your audience. 

Generally, the base brand identity package takes 6-8 weeks from start to finish. Additional collateral items will incur additional time. However turn around time may vary depending on client response time.

Since this all may be entirely new to you, below are explanations of various deliverables. If you need any further clarification, definitely let me know as I want to make sure you feel confident with what you will be receiving!

BRAND STRATEGY: This is an in-depth PDF presentation that outlines your brand’s passion, purpose, goals, target market, and competition. It identifies the intersection of what matters to you and what matters to your audience, because it is at this intersection that you discover your competitive advantage / profit. This also includes a visual mood board to ensure we’re on the same page in terms of artistic / design direction together with an explanation. Overall, this presentation serves as a verbal and visual checkpoint before we move on to the design phase.

PRIMARY LOGO: A primary logo consists of combining letters and shapes into a unique composition that visually represents your brand and displays your full business name. It may also include extra details such as illustration, a tagline, an established date, etc. This logo is the logo you will use the most, and therefore is what will be the most familiar to your target audience.

SECONDARY LOGO(S): Oftentimes a secondary logo is applicable when the primary logo doesn’t fit into every environment. For example, it may be useful to have a logo that works well in a horizontal composition as well as a logo that fits great in a vertical space. So primary and secondary logos are usually very similar, just composed differently. This is included because I want to make sure that you have a brand that’s easy to use, expansive, and adaptable.

MARK(S): Marks are usually the “visual” you think of when thinking about a certain brand. They may be pictorial and / or type-based (such as a monogram), and help to elevate your brand into a robust identity. An example of a mark would be Subaru’s blue oval with silver stars.

COHESIVE FONT SYSTEM: In your brand, it is important to establish a cohesive, strategic, and effective font system for consistency and to create a visual hierarchy of text. This establishes which text is the most important (headings), second most important (sub-headings), and which contains the meat of the content (body text). It allows the viewer to subconsciously feel at ease while reading your content and to be able to effectively navigate their way through your content. The chosen fonts are thoughtfully chosen to ensure they best represent your brand and best target your audience.

COLLATERAL: Collateral is any asset, whether print, digital, or physical, that helps to support your brand. Two small collateral items of your choice are included with the base branding package, as outlined above, but you can always add additional items! Options include: business cards, stationary item, hang tag, tote bag, hat, stickers, buttons, up to 4 custom icons, or social media templates. If you are in need of something more complex such as package design, apparel design, or website design, let me know and I will add it to your estimate.

BRAND GUIDELINES: Your brand guidelines will be presented as an in-depth PDF presentation that goes through and explains the various file formats, file organization, how to use / not use your various brand assets, colour codes for your palette, how and when to use your fonts and where to find them, etc. Your branding system is robust, so having these guidelines essentially helps you (and anyone else who may be involved with using your branding) to ensure your brand is portrayed consistently to the world.

Yes! I essentially offer 2 website packages. The first and most affordable option is to allow me to choose what is called a theme for your website on Squarespace, which I will then set up for you and ensure it reflects your branding. This option is generally simpler and quicker, and can include minor customizations to make it more unique if required. The second and more expensive option is that I can design a fully customized / unique website, and then outsource a web developer to create it on the web and make it functional. With this option, you will be charged for the website design (with me) and be charged separately for the web development (with the developer). This option also takes more time and is subject to the availability of the developer in addition to my own. This topic is a bit more complex, so if website design is something you are interested in, then please let me know and we can chat further.

Yes! The brand identity package is split into two payments (50/50). For larger projects that include services beyond branding, payments may be split 50/25/25.

Definitely! Our communication will primarily happen through an online project management system called Asana. We’ll also chat on the phone a few times as well. Because of this, collaborating remotely, even with timezone differences, shouldn’t be a problem whatsoever.