Branding

Branding

What is brand identity? The parts that actually matter

5 min read

A logo is the part of brand identity everyone talks about and the part people notice least. Here are all the pieces, what each one carries, and how they add up to being recognised.

Branding

Visual identity vs brand identity vs logo

5 min read

Three terms that get used as if they meant the same thing. They don't, and the difference explains why a new logo so rarely fixes a brand that nobody recognises.

Branding

How to create a brand identity in a weekend

5 min read

You don't need three months and an agency to look like a real brand. You need two focused days, a clear order of decisions and the discipline to stop when it's good enough.

Branding

How to make a brand style guide people actually use

5 min read

Most style guides are opened once and forgotten. The ones that work are short, show every rule, and live where people design. Here is how to write one of those.

Branding

What goes in a brand kit, and how to keep it tidy

5 min read

The style guide says what to do. The brand kit is what people actually reach for. Get the files, formats and folders right and everyone makes on-brand work without asking.

Branding

Gradient branding: how to own a gradient identity

6 min read

Gradients are everywhere, which is exactly the problem. Here is how to turn one into an identity people recognise, rather than a background anyone could use.

Branding

Famous gradient logos: what well-known identities teach us

5 min read

A few widely documented redesigns turned gradients from a trend into a standard part of logo design. Here is what changed, and what any brand can learn from it.

Branding

Personal branding: a visual system for one person

5 min read

You don't need a logo to have a personal brand. You need a few choices made once and repeated everywhere, so that people who have seen you once know you the second time.

Branding

Branding for content creators: the one-hour setup

5 min read

Creators don't have time for a three-week branding project, and don't need one. Sixty minutes, in the right order, gives you a look people recognise in the feed.

Branding

Small business branding on a small budget

5 min read

Small businesses rarely lose customers because their logo isn't polished enough. They lose them because they look different everywhere. Here is where your limited time and money matter most.

Branding

The rebrand checklist: what to change, what to keep

5 min read

The riskiest part of a rebrand is throwing away what customers already recognise. This checklist starts there, then walks you through every file, profile and sign that has to change.

Branding

Brand consistency: why it matters and how to keep it

5 min read

You will be bored of your brand long before your customers have learned it. Why repetition is the whole point, where consistency quietly breaks, and how to protect it without becoming dull.

Branding

Distinctive brand assets: being recognised before being read

6 min read

Most people will never read your logo. They will notice a colour, a shape or a texture, and either think of you or of nobody. That is the whole job of a distinctive asset.

Branding

Logo on gradient background: how to keep it clear

5 min read

Gradients change colour across their width, so a logo that reads at one end can vanish at the other. Here is how to choose the version, the spot and the colour so it never does.

Branding

Gradient logo: when it works, and when to go flat

5 min read

A gradient can make a logo feel alive on a screen and fall apart on a business card. Here is how to decide, how to design one that survives, and the flat version you always need.

Branding

How to make a brand moodboard that leads somewhere

5 min read

Most moodboards are a pile of nice pictures that never become a brand. This method turns yours into a named direction, a palette and a set of materials you can actually design with.

Branding

Brand voice and visuals: make your look sound like you

5 min read

A calm message in a loud look reads as insincere, and people notice before they can say why. Here is a practical map from how you sound to how you look.

Branding

Brand personality: choosing a look that sounds like you

5 min read

A brand personality only matters once it changes what you make. Here are the frameworks worth knowing, a simple method to choose yours, and how it becomes a look.

Branding

Startup branding before you have product-market fit

5 min read

Early on, your brand has two jobs: make strangers trust you enough to try the product, and not get in the way when the product changes. Here is how to do both.

Branding

Café and restaurant branding: one look from menu to feed

5 min read

People remember a place by how it felt. The job of a café or restaurant brand is to carry that feeling onto a menu, a sign, a cup and a phone screen, and keep it there all year.

Branding

Podcast cover art that stands out in a grid

5 min read

Your cover is designed at 3000 pixels and seen at the size of a fingertip, next to dozens of others. Here is how to make one that survives both.

Branding

Event branding: one look from invite to stage

5 min read

An event is seen in a dozen formats over a few weeks: a story, an invitation, a registration page, a poster, a badge, a screen the size of a wall. Here is how to make them all feel like one night.

Branding

Unique brand design: why owning your look beats renting a template

5 min read

A template gives you a finished look in minutes, and gives the same look to everyone else who picks it. Here is what it means to own a look instead, and how to make one yours.

Branding

Why every feed looks the same, and how to stand out on social media

6 min read

Templates made posting easy. They also made most brands interchangeable. Here is why feeds converge, how to test whether yours has, and how to build a look nobody can swap.