What should the design process look like?

Glad you asked! With something as important as the face of your company, we make sure to leave no creative stone unturned. Here's what a typical design process looks like - start to finish.

Brand Discovery

This portion is probably one of the most exciting parts of the design process. My framework involves using the online whiteboard software Miro to bring all of us together in the best way possible: without having to leave the comfort of our desks! Using my highly collaborative brand sprint workflow, we help clarify your brand’s purpose, find its voice, and understand your customers.

Research

We live in an amazing time – where an almost limitless amount of knowledge is right at the end of our fingertips – the trick is knowing where to look. We use online resources, to look outside of your company; collecting information on your market regardless of where you are in the world. We then put this all together in a concise brand brief that will ensure we’re successful moving forward.

Stylescapes

Stylescapes are the bridge between design thinking and visual design. They are a low-risk tool that benefit both the designer and the client in that they are quick to set up and help get everyone on the same page visually. There’s nothing more defeating than having a designer spend hours working on logo concepts only to find out they were on a completely different page than you – Stylescapes help prevent this from happening. I present three stylescapes, and you get to decide which one most closely matches your vision and we then move on from there.

Conceptual Design

Now we’re getting somewhere. With brand sprints, research phase, and stylescapes in our back pocket, we can begin fleshing out what your final brand will look like. I provide between 3 and 5 logo concept designs, in mockup presentations, for you to decide on. With 2 rounds of revisions on one of these concepts, we can be sure that we’ll arrive at a design we’re both satisfied with.

Colour & Typography

Colour and typography exploration goes hand in hand with the aforementioned conceptual design. A seasoned designer knows that both colour and typography can have a major effect on a brand’s mood and overall personality. I help guide you through colour palette decisions and typographic choices, making sure everything goes together seamlessly.

Approval & Finalization

The finish line is in sight! At this point you have been an integral part of almost every aspect of this project’s creative direction so, there will be no scary surprises at this stage – only an ‘a-ha moment’ or two! We can do any last tweaks, and start deciding which champagne we’re going to buy. Once I get the green light, I will go ahead packing everything up.

Collateral & Usage Guidelines

In order for any brand to be successful, it needs to be presented to the right people – and in the right way. That’s why before we finish the project, we make sure we develop any collateral that we feel is needed to make the greatest impact on your target audience. This could be anything from business cards to a full-fledged website and is something we will have carefully planned much earlier in the design process and now that we have an identity to show off, we go ahead and put this into practice. Finally, I create a concise set of guidelines that your company will use to implement this strategy for years to come.

Delivery

Hooray! Congratulations are in order! You now have a fully-functional brand identity that effectively speaks to your company’s personality and targets your perfect customer! I provide all designs in every format needed for print and digital application so that once I’m long gone, you will never have to worry about finding the right file or template to show off your brand.