My 5-step Strategic Brand Design Process
Logos are often confused as the entirety of a brand, but a logo is just one element that exists within a brand identity. When you ask for a logo, you get one design that’s only a piece of a much bigger puzzle.
When you invest in brand identity design services, you’re investing in a complete creative suite for your business. When I’m designing the visual identity of a brand, it includes several components that form the brand’s overall aesthetic:
Patterns or other graphic elements
These assets must accurately represent and convey your brand personality and voice/tone, which is uncovered through brand strategy. Brand strategy helps identify the internal motivators and heart of your brand. To learn more about brand strategy, read one of our most popular blogs: Brand Strategy vs. Brand Identity: What’s the Difference?
In this blog, I map out my brand development process by walking you through the steps involved in brand building. Don’t worry, this isn’t a technical blog explaining the steps in creating a logo design using Adobe Illustrator for visual identity design or anything like that.
If you’re interested in my internal branding process or booking one of my services, this blog will detail what to expect when reaching out.
Without further ado, let’s jump into the brand building process steps.
My 5-step brand design process
0. Proposal
Before we explore the process of developing a brand, we have to connect about your project.
First, you’ll review my portfolio, and if you connect with my modern, minimal design style, you’ll fill out a client application on my website. I’ll review to see if my brand identity design services are a good fit for your needs and email you to clarify your budget, target launch date, and business.
If so, I’ll send you my project brochure which details my studio, brand identity packages, pricing, project timelines, expectations, and more. If we decide we’re a good fit, I’ll write up a service agreement and invoice, which will secure your spot on my calendar once signed and paid.
Now we’re ready to start the 5-step brand building process.
1. Brand Discovery
The first of the branding process steps is brand discovery.
In this stage of the brand design process, you’ll complete a detailed brand identity design questionnaire. You’ll answer questions about your business’s origin story, ideal clients, desired aesthetic, personality, goals, etc. This will give me insight into your business and help you think strategically about it.
Side note: If you choose to invest in brand strategy, we’ll dive even deeper into your business, establishing your mission, vision, purpose, brand archetype, and more.
Next, you’ll create a Pinterest board with inspiration for your brand identity design. This board will help me understand the design direction for your brand. The discovery step shapes not only your brand’s aesthetic, but offers clarity on how you want your business to show up in the world.
2. Design Direction
In the brand building process, step two is where your homework ends and mine begins. I take everything I’ve learned from our brand discovery phase and your Pinterest board to create a mood board that establishes the design direction for your brand.
I meticulously select typefaces, colors, shapes, and photos that set the mood for your brand. It usually takes an iteration or two to get our visions to align, but the final product is a beautifully curated work of art that will eventually transform into your dream brand.
3. One-concept Presentation
The third branding step is presenting you with my concept for your brand identity design. I’ve chosen to use the one-concept method. As the name suggests, I only present you with the strongest option out of all of the visual identity design concepts that I've considered.
Presenting one option gives me the opportunity to select every element with even more intentionality. By distilling all ideas into a single concept, I'm able to remove the confusion and internal conflict that arises when you're confronted by too many options. Instead, we can focus our energies on refining the best design for your brand.
4. Refinements
Brand building process step number four is where we refine the concept I presented in the previous step. With the concept fully built out, you’re able to see how your brand would look “in the wild.”
Once you’ve had time to digest the presentation, you’ll gather any constructive feedback you may have and communicate it via Notion (my project management system). I allow up to two revisions during the refinement stage.
Side note: I’ve only had to move through this branding step once.
Once everything is designed to your liking, it’s time to export your logo files and create your brand guidelines.
5. Final Files & Brand Guidelines
Brand guidelines—also known as brand book, brand style guide, and brand standards—is a multi-page document that establishes how your brand visually communicates itself to the world online and on paper. Following your brand guidelines keeps your brand identity design looking consistent across multiple channels.
Your brand guidelines depict how your logo variations should be used and where. For instance, the image below showcases how one of my clients can combine her brand marks with her brand colors. She should never use her logos with a color that’s not in her brand color palette.
Being inconsistent with your brand identity design will cause brand contamination, ruining any recognition you’ve built in your audience’s mind.
And there you have it! My 5-step internal branding process. To dive deeper, learn the difference between brand vs. branding vs. brand identity.
Brand Identity Design Services for Small Businesses
When you collaborate with Selah Creative Co., you’re investing in more than a logo. We’ll craft a modern brand identity design that represents the heart of your business. A strategy-led brand visually communicates the very ethos of your business through a suite of memorable creative elements.
Bring your business to life through a bespoke brand identity design—not “just a logo.”
Whether you’re an established business that wants to go through a rebranding process or a solopreneur that recently ventured out on your own, get in touch with Selah Creative Co.
Ready to invest in a brand that books? Fill out a client application today to inquire about my brand identity design services.
