The mark
Primary lockup, a stacked version, and a small icon for app tiles and favicons. Vector artwork, plus flat exports in the sizes you will actually be asked for.
Brand identity
A mark, and the rules that keep it.
Most logos fall apart the week after handover. Someone stretches it, someone picks a new blue, someone sets the address in a font nobody agreed on. We draw the mark, write down the rules that stop all of that, and hand you every source file.
How it runs, start to handover.
Three steps, in this order, with a date against each one before we begin.
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Look first
We go through what you sell, who buys it, and what the other names in your category already look like. Then you get two directions, not twelve, with a written reason under each one. Twelve options is a way of making you do the deciding.
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Draw and test
The direction you pick gets built properly. We test it small, large, in one colour, on dark, in print and on a phone at arm's length, then fix whatever breaks. A mark that only looks good at full width on a slide is not finished.
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Write it down, hand it over
Rules, files, fonts, and a walkthrough call with whoever has to use this after we leave. The source files go to you in the same week, not after a chasing email.
What is in the box.
Four parts. The mark, the type, the colour, and the written rules that keep it consistent once we are gone.
The type
One or two typefaces, no more. We tell you what the licence costs and who has to buy it, in writing, before you commit to anything.
The colour
A small set that holds together. Hex, RGB, CMYK and the nearest print reference, so your printer and your website stop arguing about which one is the real blue.
The written rules
A short PDF with clear space, minimum size, what to do on top of photos, and the handful of things nobody should ever do to the mark. Written for a person, not a committee.
You get the source files. Editable vector artwork, every export, and the font files or the links to buy them. Nothing sits locked in an account we control. Your printer, your next agency and the person in your office with Illustrator can all open the folder and get to work without calling us first.
Scoped first, then quoted.
No number is printed on this page, because there is no honest one to print. An identity for a two person studio and an identity for a company with four product lines are not the same job.
Every job is scoped to what you need.
one fee, paid once, no retainer
We go through what actually has to be made: how many lockups, whether there is packaging, whether a sign maker and a printer are involved, how many languages sit in the mark. Then the figure is different every time, because the work is.
You get it by email, in writing, before anything starts. It is a fixed scope. If you add to it later, we write the addition down too and wait for a yes before touching it.
What the scope is built out of
- The logo and the wordmark. The full lockup, a stacked version for narrow spaces, and the name set on its own so it can run in a line of text.
- A small mark for tight spaces. App tile, favicon, profile circle, a stamp on the end of a box. Drawn separately, not the big logo shrunk down until it turns to mud.
- Type and colour, and how they behave together. Sizes, weights, line spacing, which colour goes on which, and what to do when the photo behind the text is busy.
- Packaging artwork. Boxes, labels, sleeves, pouches, set up on the real dieline with bleed and safe area, in the format your packaging supplier asks for.
- Signage. Shopfront, reception wall, vehicle panels, sized to the actual board with a note on materials, so the sign maker is not guessing at scale.
- Print artwork. Cards, letterhead, invoices, forms, folders. Press ready PDFs with the right colour build, plus editable files for the ones you keep reprinting.
- Social templates your own team fills in. Post, story and cover sizes, with the text boxes and image slots already locked in place, so nobody has to redraw the layout to announce something on a Tuesday.
- A short guideline document. Clear space, minimum size, the colour values, the type rules, and the short list of things nobody should do to the mark. Plain words, a few pages, written to be read once and kept.
- The source files, handed over. Layered, editable working artwork, every export in every format, and the fonts or the links to buy them. You own the folder outright and you can hand it to anyone.
Four things people ask before they sign.
Straight answers. If one of these is a dealbreaker, better that you know now.
Why not a cheap logo off a freelance site?
You can, and for some businesses that is the right call. What you will not get is the second half of the job: the rules, the tested sizes, and the files in a form a printer will accept. Most people who come to us already have the cheap logo and cannot use it on anything larger than a screen.
Will it end up looking like everyone else's?
Every mark is drawn and finished by hand. Anything that reads as a template gets thrown out before you ever see it. The two directions you get are drawn for your name and your category, and we will show you the rejected pages if you want to see the working.
What if I do not like either direction?
One more round is included in the fee. We go back to your notes, take the parts you did react to, and come back with a fresh pair. If we are still nowhere after that, we say so plainly instead of grinding, and you keep everything made up to that point.
Who owns it once the invoice is paid?
You do, in full, source files included. We hand over the working artwork, not just flattened exports, and we do not hold the domain, the fonts or the folder hostage. The only thing we ask for is permission to show the work here, and you are free to say no.
Ready when you are.
Tell us the name, what it sells, and what is wrong with the mark you have now. One or two lines is plenty. A person reads it and a person replies, usually within a working day.