Howdy! If you’re reading this, maybe you’ve always wanted to know how the design process works, maybe you’re about to start a new brand or perhaps you just like having a bit of a sticky beak! Whatever the case is, we hope that this helps shed some light on our process when we have the pleasure of designing a brand.

01. Meet & Greet!

We like to know who we are working with, what inspires them and what they want to achieve when they come to us for help.

At this stage we like to hop on a Zoom call or (brace yourselves!) an old school in-person meeting. We like to ask some simple questions about the project such as:

Why would you like to work with us?
What should we know about you?
What are your goals for this project?

02. Proposal

Following up after our initial meeting we like to send a proposal across to you. Think of it as a document which shows all the crucial components of the project.

Proposal Features:

Timings (when each stage of the project is due for review)
Deliverables (what we will create and deliver for you)
Pricing for our services
Examples of similar work (to show we can walk the walk!)

03. Deposit & Contract

We take each project seriously. We like to get a contract signed so everything is above board and you can see exactly what we promise to deliver on.

We also ask for a 50% deposit upfront before any work is started. This is simply to schedule in the work and make sure that we cover our time if something goes south.

04. Discovery

During this phase we take a better look at the marketplace you are either trying to enter or reposition yourself in.

It is about getting to know what is currently happening in the marketplace and how you see yourselves in the mix. We look at competitors, gaps in the market and use our knowledge of visual trends

Questions we like to ask during discovery:

Who are your main competitors?
What is your unique selling point or point of difference?
Who is your target market?
What would success look like?
When are you looking to launch?

05. Moodboards

For us, mood boards are a very useful and crucial tool. If we are working on a project that has multiple creative directions, mood boards are a great way to show at a macro level how each direction may be built on.

Sometimes a client knows in their head what they like but can’t describe it. By providing you with mood boards it is an easy way to fix that issue and is also great for a client to see work that they may not have seen before which also may spark new ideas or thoughts.

**This was 1 of 2 mood boards for a Melbourne architecture firm.**

06. Concept Development

The next step after mood boards have been approved is the concept development stage. This is where we start the actual design work! We create two different concepts for your brand identity as we believe this is the perfect amount to explore and present back.

What this looks like:

Exploring and developing logo ideas
Testing out colour palettes
Hunting down brand typefaces
Testing illustration styles (if applicable to the project)
Mocking up concepts to see how they might look in the real world

07. Concept Presentation

This is where we present the two ideas back to you with a rationale of all design choices. We let you sit with this for a few days initially while you gather feedback. If we have nailed a concept and you want to approve it, then we move to the next stage. If it’s close to perfect but needs refining this is where we look to do this as well.

08. Brand Roll-out

Once we get the A-OK👌 from you we start finalising and packaging up things like logos, fonts, imagery, illustrations etc.

We also provide you with a guide on how to use your brand correctly and give you the confidence to make sure your brand looks perfect within any application you may need going forward.

We also then start to tackle the tasks of building out the brand into the items you may also need.

This could look like, but not limited to:

Website
Social Media Templates
Packaging
Presentations
Merchandise

09. FINITO!

You and your new brand are ready to hit the world! We always support our brands moving forward and are happy to assist with any ask they may have within our wheelhouse.

Our favourite thing is when our clients come back to us to keep building their brand or making them look good on a shirt or a poster. Whatever it may be!

If you’d like to chat about your brand please fill in our form or send us an email at hello@sammerrigandesign.com

Our Process.