THE DESIGN PROCESS:
What to expect
The design process varies from project to project, and I tailor it to your specific business needs. For all new clients, I start with a free 20 minute consultation so you can ask questions, share your goals and timeline, and confirm I’m the right fit. Most projects can be scoped and customized based on your budget, timing, and priorities.
Below is a general branding process as an example. Additional process descriptions (for other project types) will be available soon.
Branding Process
for an existing brand.
1. Initial Consultation
You will have a free 20 minute call with me to ask questions walk me through your needs and timeline. This is our chance to make sure we’re a good match. If you’ve worked with a large studio before, you’ll likely find working with an individual branding expert more flexible and direct.
2. Discovery
Before our first branding meeting, I’ll send prompts to help you compile background information. During that meeting, I’ll ask questions to understand your business, products or services, target audience, and current brand identity. We’ll talk about why you started the business, your vision, mission, values, and what makes you different. Afterward, I’ll research how customers currently experience and talk about your brand, its position in the market, and the associations it has built culturally. I’ll also analyze key competitors and your broader industry landscape to surface trends and insights. All of this rolls into a formal brand audit.
3. Brand Audit
I’ll synthesize my findings into a brand‑audit presentation that clarifies your existing brand story and highlights strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This document captures where the brand stands today. During our review session we’ll also discuss where the current reality diverges from the company’s aspirations. This process helps unify stakeholders around a shared vision of where the brand is and where it’s going, which makes future decisions simpler, more cohesive, and more consistent across the customer experience. I find this step is often inspirational and motivating to teams as they see how far they have come and find clarity of vision for the future.
4. Brand Strategy and Creative Development
Once we’re aligned on the audit, I’ll develop a brand strategy that recommends clear refinements to your brand’s personality, positioning, messaging, and visual identity—often including opportunities in overlooked market niches or audiences you haven’t fully reached yet. This covers core elements like tone of voice, color palette, typography, and imagery, as well as social media guidelines and templates. We’ll decide together which assets to prioritize, and then I’ll begin design rounds to bring the strategy to life, often including logo refinements or a completely new mark. In each round (usually three), I’ll present options and the reasoning behind them to key decision‑makers, give you time to review and discuss, then refine based on your feedback and share updated work in a follow‑up meeting.
5. Guidelines
Once the strategy and key creative assets are approved, I’ll develop comprehensive brand guidelines. If appropriate, this includes a press kit and a condensed mini brand guide for easy sharing with partners, vendors, and collaborators.
6. Implementation
With guidelines in place, I’ll help you roll out the new or refreshed brand across your main touchpoints—such as your website, social channels, advertising, packaging, and other marketing or collateral. As needed, I can provide art direction for other creatives to ensure the work stays aligned with the brand.
7. Evaluation/Brand Management
I’m available for ongoing consulting to help maintain brand continuity and cohesion across campaigns, products or services, and other customer‑facing touchpoints. Over time, I can help you evaluate how the refreshed brand is performing, monitor brand awareness and perception, and refine the strategy if needed.
Suggested COMPLIMENTS to the branding process:
Marketing Research
Marketing research goes hand in hand with brand strategy. I conduct general research while developing your brand, but a professional marketing researcher can dig deeper to understand exactly how people feel, what they want, and how they behave. They specialize in social listening, marketing analytics, ethnography, and user‑experience research—collecting and analyzing data, then turning it into actionable insights.
SEO Expertise
SEO expertise is essential for any business that wants to be found and trusted online, whether or not you’re running ads. SEO specialists “see the code under the matrix” and understand how search engines interpret content and structure. Once your brand strategy is in place and you start updating your online presence, I recommend investing in an SEO audit of your website and key digital channels.
Ready for a consult?
Let’s talk about your design needs. You can connect with me on LinkedIn or reach out via this site’s contact form.
Thank you!