The flagship
Brand identity design
The whole thing, built by hand: the idea it stands on, the mark, and everything you need to keep it running after I hand it over.
Most identity work starts with a mood board. This starts with a conversation about your business, your customers and the place you come from, because the strongest brands are built on something that is already true rather than something borrowed from a competitor.
Then I find the one idea the identity should stand on and build the whole world out from it: the mark, the palette, the type, the way it behaves in the places you will actually use it. One designer, start to finish, so nothing gets lost in a handover halfway through.
- Suits
- New businesses, and established ones outgrowing a logo made in a hurry
- Timeline
- Four to eight weeks, depending on scope
- From
- Quoted per project, after a conversation
- You work with
- Me, start to finish
What's included
Everything that makes it work.
The angle
The one idea your brand stands on, written down in a sentence you can repeat. Everything else is judged against it.
The mark
A primary logo drawn by hand, plus the variants you need: stacked, horizontal, one colour, reversed, and a small-size cut that still reads at favicon size.
Colour and type
A palette with hex, RGB and CMYK values, and a type system with a scale. Contrast is checked, not guessed, so it holds up on signage and on screen.
The system
How the parts behave together: clear space, minimum sizes, what happens on a photograph, what is not allowed. Rules, so it stays right when you are not in the room.
Applications
Designed for the places you are actually seen. A van, a shopfront, a business card, a bottle, an Instagram grid, whatever the job needs.
A brand sheet
A single document your printer, your sign-writer and your next designer can all work from without ringing me.
What gets handed over
Yours, properly.
Everything below is yours on completion, including the source files. No licence to renew, and nothing that stops you working with someone else next time.
- Vector artwork in SVG, EPS, PDF and PNG, in every colourway
- Full colour and type specification, with values for print and screen
- A brand sheet as a PDF, written in plain English
- Social profile images and a favicon, correctly sized
- Templates for whatever you produce regularly
- The working files, so you are never locked to me
Related work
Where this has gone before.
Questions
The things people actually ask.
How much does a brand identity cost?
It depends on how much of the system you need. A sole trader wanting a mark, a palette and a set of files is a very different job from a producer who needs packaging across a range. I quote per project after a conversation, and the quote is fixed, so you are not watching a clock.
How long does it take?
Usually four to eight weeks from first conversation to handover. Most of the variation is in how quickly feedback comes back, so I build review points into the schedule rather than leaving them open-ended.
Do I own the logo?
Yes. Full ownership transfers to you on final payment, along with the working files. There is no licence to renew and no fee for using your own mark.
Do you work with businesses outside Argyll?
Regularly. Most of the work happens over video calls and shared files, so the west coast is where I am rather than a limit on who I work with. If you are nearby I will happily come to you.
What if I already have a logo I want to keep?
Then we build around it. Plenty of businesses have a mark that works and a system that does not, and tidying the palette, type and applications is often the cheaper, better job.
Also from the studio
Got a business that deserves better than a stock logo?
Tell me what you are working on. No pitch, no jargon, just a conversation about whether I am the right person for it.