What is the difference between a logo and a brand?

A logo is one asset. A brand is the whole system around it, the colours, the typefaces, the photography, the way you write and the rules for putting them together. A logo on its own is why businesses end up with marketing that looks like it came from five different companies. The system is what makes everything recognisable as you.

How much does branding cost?

It depends on how much of the system you need and how big the business is, so we will not quote before we understand that. On the strategy call we will tell you honestly whether you need a full identity, a refresh of what you already have, or just the guidelines and templates to stop the drift.

What is in each branding package?

There are three. Brand Starter covers discovery, a primary logo and secondary mark, colour and typography, all logo files and a one page basics sheet. Full Brand Identity adds strategy and messaging, the full logo suite, tone of voice, art direction, brand guidelines and templates for social, print, signage, packaging and email. Rebrand is for an established business and adds an audit of existing equity, research, a migration plan across every channel, launch assets and a review ninety days after go live.

How long does a branding project take?

A full identity usually takes four to eight weeks. That covers strategy, design, revisions, the guidelines document and the templates. A smaller refresh of an existing brand can be quicker, and if the identity is being built alongside a website we usually run them together so the two land as one piece of work.

Do I get the logo files to keep?

Yes. You get every format you will actually need, for print, for screen and for signage, in colour, single colour and reversed versions, and the original working files. The brand is yours.

Can you refresh our brand without starting again?

Often that is the right answer. If people already recognise you there is real value in what you have, so we keep the parts that are working and rebuild what is holding you back, whether that is the palette, the typography or how it all behaves in practice. We will tell you honestly which one your business needs.

What are brand guidelines and do I need them?

Guidelines are the document that stops the brand drifting. They set out the logo and its clear space, the colour values, the type scale, the photography style and the tone of voice, so anybody producing anything for you gets it right without asking. If more than one person makes anything for your business, you need them.

Do you write the tone of voice as well as design the look?

Yes. How a brand sounds matters as much as how it looks, and it is the part most identities skip. You get the words you use, the words you avoid, and worked examples so the writing stays consistent whoever is doing it.

Will the new brand work on social media and our website?

That is designed in from the start rather than discovered later. Every identity is tested at profile picture size, in a feed, on a phone screen and in print before it is signed off, and you get editable social and print templates so the brand holds up everywhere it appears.

We already have a designer, can you work alongside them?

Yes. We can build the strategy and guidelines and hand them over for an in house team to run, or take on individual pieces of design work to an existing brand. Plenty of clients use us for brand consultancy while their own team handles delivery.

Branding and Design

A brand people recognise before they read the name.

Brand strategy and identity design for growing businesses across the UK and beyond. Positioning, logo, colour, typography, tone of voice and the guidelines that keep it all holding together long after we hand it over.

Book a Free Strategy Call See a Brand System

The Point Of It

Looking like one business is worth money.

When the website, the van, the social feed and the invoice all look like they came from the same place, people trust you faster and you spend less proving you are worth it. That is the whole job of a brand. Not a logo you like, a system that makes every pound you spend on marketing work slightly harder.

0Brand Assets Delivered

0Average Engagement Lift

0Guideline Document

0One Consistent Look

One System, Not One Logo

See a whole brand change its mind.

A logo is one asset. A brand is the system around it. Switch direction below and watch the lockup, the marks, the palette, the typefaces and every application move together, because that is what actually gets handed over.

Direction shown · Boïrd, modern house and interiors

Logo usage

Marks

Secondary

Submark

Art direction

Typography

Stationery

Digital applications

Logo usage

Spa
Studio

AUR✦RA

[ Relax & Wellness ] · Est. 2024

spa and wellness studio

Marks

Monogram

Reversed

AURORAest. 2024

Stacked

AURORAest. 2024

On dark

Signage

AUR✦RA

Relax & Wellness

Brushed metal on painted render · 1200mm

Packaging

Aurora

AURORA

Ritual Oil · 100ml

Palette

Email signature

Re: Treatment plan and availability

Thanks so much, that all sounds good. See you Thursday. Kind regards,

AURORA Studio Director

Relax & Wellness

01234 567 890
hello@aurorastudio.co.uk · aurorastudio.co.uk

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Stationery

AUAURORA

Studio Director

01234 567 890
hello@aurorastudio.co.uk
aurorastudio.co.uk

Typography

Aaa

Outfit, 500 and 300 Playfair Display Italic, accent

Wide tracking, generous space and a single italic word. Calm before anything else.

Three demonstration directions, built to show the range. Tap a colour to copy it. Yours would be designed around your market rather than picked from a shelf.

Packages

Three ways in, depending on where you are starting.

Most businesses need one of these three. On the strategy call we will tell you honestly which, including when the smallest one is enough for now.

Brand Starter

For a new business, or one still trading on a logo made in a hurry. The essentials, done properly, so you look established from day one.

Discovery session and positioning summary
Primary logo and one secondary mark
Colour palette and typography
Two rounds of revisions
All logo files, print, screen and signage
One page brand basics sheet

Typically two to three weeks

Most chosen

Full Brand Identity

The whole system. Everything in Starter, plus the strategy, the voice and the templates that keep it consistent long after handover.

Brand strategy, positioning and messaging
Full logo suite, monogram, lockups and submark
Extended palette and full type scale
Tone of voice with worked examples
Art direction and photography style
Full brand guidelines document
Social, print and stationery templates
Signage, packaging and email signature artwork
Handover session for your team

Typically four to eight weeks

Rebrand

For an established business that people already recognise. We keep the equity you have built, rebuild what is holding you back, and move everything across without losing ground.

Audit of the current brand and what is worth keeping
Customer and competitor research
Everything in Full Brand Identity
Migration plan across every channel
Website, social and signage rolled over
Launch assets and announcement campaign
Ninety day review after go live

Typically six to ten weeks

Not sure which fits? The strategy call is free and you will leave knowing, even if the answer is that you do not need us yet.

Book A Free Strategy Call

What You Get

Strategy first, then the look.

Design that starts with a mood board is decoration. We start with who you are selling to and what you need them to believe, then build an identity that does that job.

What is included

Brand strategy, positioning and messaging
Logo design, monogram and full visual identity
Colour palette, typography and art direction
Tone of voice, so everything sounds like one business
Brand guidelines your whole team can follow
Social templates, print, signage and campaign creative
Photography direction, so new images fit the brand
Brand consultancy for teams handling delivery in house

What you walk away with

Every logo file you will actually need, for print, screen and signage, in colour, single colour and reversed. A guidelines document. Editable templates for the things you make every week. All of it yours to keep and use with anyone.

Who it suits

Businesses that have outgrown a logo made in a hurry, anyone whose marketing looks like it came from five different companies, and anyone about to spend on advertising who wants it landing somewhere that looks the part.

Talk About Branding

Noire Interior Design Studio, full identity, stationery and web

40+Brand assets delivered

1Guideline document

+140%Average engagement lift

What We Create

Four parts, and they only work together.

You can buy any one of these on its own. The reason brands drift is that most businesses buy the first and skip the rest.

Brand strategy

Who you are for, what you do better than the alternatives, and the handful of things you need people to believe before they buy.

Positioning and audience
Messaging and key claims
Competitor review

Visual identity

The logo and everything around it. Built to work at profile picture size and on a shopfront, not just on a presentation slide.

Logo, monogram and lockups
Colour palette and typography
Art direction and iconography

Tone of voice

How the business sounds in writing, which is the part most identities skip and the reason so many brands read like everybody else.

Voice principles and worded examples
Words you use and words you avoid
Applied to web, social and email

Guidelines and templates

The part that stops it drifting six months later. Rules anyone can follow, and editable files for the things you make every week.

Full brand guidelines document
Social, print and campaign templates
Handover session for your team

How It Works

Four to eight weeks, start to handover.

You will see the thinking before you see the design, so nothing arrives as a surprise and no decision gets made on taste alone.

Discovery

A proper session on the business, the market and the customer, plus a look at everyone you are competing against for attention.

Strategy and direction

Positioning and messaging agreed in writing, then two or three visual directions with the reasoning behind each one.

Design and refine

The chosen direction built out across the identity, tested at every size it has to live at, then two rounds of revisions.

Guidelines and handover

Files, guidelines and templates delivered, with a session to walk your team through using them properly.

Why Us

Designed by the people who have to use it.

Most identities are handed over as a beautiful document and then quietly fall apart, because nobody who made it ever had to post with it at eight in the morning. We do. Every brand we build is tested against the work it will actually have to do.

That is the advantage of one team across everything. The people designing your identity are the same people running your social media, shooting your content and building your website, so the brand is proven on real work before it is signed off. Most clients start with one service and grow into a full partnership across all five.

Book A Free Strategy Call

What changes when we take it on

Tested where it has to live

Checked at profile picture size, in a feed, on a phone and in print before sign off, rather than admired at A3 and struggled with later.

A reason behind every choice

Colour, type and tone chosen against your market and your customer, so you can defend the brand rather than just liking it.

It sounds like you as well

Tone of voice written and applied, because a brand that looks consistent and reads like four different people is only half done.

Built so it holds

Guidelines and templates that let anyone produce on brand work, so it still looks like one business a year from now.

A brand people recognise before they read the name.

Looking like one business is worth money.

See a whole brand change its mind.

Three ways in, depending on where you are starting.

Brand Starter

Full Brand Identity

Rebrand

Strategy first, then the look.

What is included

What you walk away with

Who it suits

Four parts, and they only work together.

Brand strategy

Visual identity

Tone of voice

Guidelines and templates

Four to eight weeks, start to handover.

Discovery

Strategy and direction

Design and refine

Guidelines and handover

Designed by the people who have to use it.

Tested where it has to live

A reason behind every choice

It sounds like you as well

Built so it holds

Branding questions we get first.

Does your marketing look like one business?

A brand people recognise before they read the name.

Looking like one business is worth money.

See a whole brand change its mind.

Three ways in, depending on where you are starting.

Brand Starter

Full Brand Identity

Rebrand

Strategy first, then the look.

What is included

What you walk away with

Who it suits

Four parts, and they only work together.

Brand strategy

Visual identity

Tone of voice

Guidelines and templates

Four to eight weeks, start to handover.

Discovery

Strategy and direction

Design and refine

Guidelines and handover

Designed by the people who have to use it.

Tested where it has to live

A reason behind every choice

It sounds like you as well

Built so it holds

Branding questions we get first.

A brand is only worth what you do with it.

Graphic Design

Social Media Management

Paid Advertising

Website Design and Build

Content Creation

Does your marketing look like one business?

Not sure where to start?