"Brand" is your culture. It is how you interact with customers, how you treat your staff, and beyond. It is someone's overall gut feeling about you. The operational items are on you... But, we will help you show off the truisms that make you a gem in your market. Nothing artificial, no lies, and no manipulation. True presence.
Logos don't explain your business, that's the job of your messaging. A logo makes you iconic, identifiable, and memorable. We don't chase trends for the sake of trends. We create logos that last and hold meaning to the business.
Your logo should be a suite, not a one-off. You need different variants for different uses that retain consistency and recognition. A logo, colors, and fonts aren't enough. We create thoughtful brand system that will give you a consistent presence and prevent you from reinventing the wheel whenever you create content.
High-level, brand messaging. Taglines, descriptive and expressive headlines, brand narratives, and positioning statements. We also work with partners to develop and deploy any ongoing content marketing.
When we refresh or develop your brand presence, you will come away with more clarity. You will have more confidence in who you are and how you show up. Everything is captured in a detailed brand guide to help you and any future partners who will create branded content on your behalf.
Brand development or a brand refresh should come with a new website or at least a major facelift. Your website and social media are main hubs of your brand. Your overall presence online should be memorable, identifiable, and consistent.
Reach out or snag an available meeting time. We'll simply have a conversation about your brand and the goals your business hopes to achieve with the work.
If we like the cut of each other's jib, we’ll spell out the scope of work and timing in a proposal...
Once we agree on the terms, a deposit secures your spot on the schedule and kicks off the project! Every client is nuanced. But, the pricing page will give you an idea of the investment to expect.
We want to be smart and strategic with what we do together and creative work can be subjective. In this phase, we aim to make it more objective and effective. This process helps us agree on what success looks like both strategically and creatively.
Where the magic happens! After we have a solid understanding of your business, the ideas flow. That is usually to the tune of a large bank of conceptual thumbnail sketches, words, and thoughts. It is where we mine for the gold...
Sharing the sketch mother lode will overwhelm and muddy the waters. We take that collection, with our experience, and in consideration of your goals, we whittle them down. Usually, that means further tinkering with 5-8 ideas to find the cream of the crop. We then ready 2-3 strong potential solutions to present, in context.
We present logos and identity concepts in relevant contexts and applications (mockups) with suggested color palettes, fonts, keywords, and phrases. This paints a picture of what could be.
Based on the input of the concept phase, we create a stylescape. This is a wide (collage-like) collection of real, bespoke, ready-to-use, brand elements. This is the clear, 30,000 ft. view of how your brand will look across many applications. This approach eases the next steps like building a brand guide or designing a website.
By now, we have an excellent handle on the elements, style, and tone of your brand's identity. We just need to package it up in a way that explains usage and helps retain quality and consistency for when you and/or others create content on your behalf.
Simple style guides spell out logos, graphics, font, and colors. Full brand guides go further in-depth in tone, positioning, messaging, style, and more design/layout examples and guidance.
We provide all brand assets in best-practice file formats and organized folders labeled for usage. We want to make sure that no matter what pops up in the future, you have the right goodies at your disposal and know exactly where to find them.
A custom website often piggybacks on a brand development project. There are many ways to DIY a site these days. We make sites that are user-focused, without being bland. We don't use off-the-shelf templates, barely tweak them, and overcharge you. The site will be unique to your brand and needs.
Clients who do brand development + website with Sharpe Creative receive praise specific to how the website stands out (in a good way). A large increase in site visitors becoming to leads and customers.
Though we provide resources to help you activate and promote your brand, we are also here to help the brands we develop with ongoing creative support. We recommend some degree of support for at least one year after your brand is developed. This will ensure that additional materials are high quality and remain on brand. Ongoing creative support will give you an even more robust foundation.
We'l put together an individual plan to support you monthly, quarterly, or whatever best suits your business.
Develop staple brand identity elements as a solid foundation. Ideal for smaller businesses with fewer marketing applications for the brand identity.
Questionnaire and strategic session
Up to 3 brand identity concepts presented in application
Finalized logos, color palette, and fonts
Simple Style Guide
Basic secondary visual elements (patterns or textures)
Brand kit of best-practice files
Extended visual identity (additional costs)
Week 1 Questionnaire and strategic session. Sketching and conceptual exploration
Week 2-3 Concepts developed
Week 4 Concepts presented and reviewed
Week 5 Finalize selected concept, create style guide and packaged kit
Develop or refresh a full brand identity system well beyond the basics. You will have clarity, the goods, and examples to apply your brand to anything and everything with consistency.
Everything from Basic Brand Identity plus...
Strategic workbook and workshop interview
Creative Compass (Brand Strategy)
Stylescape development
Detailed Brand Guidelines
Extensive secondary visual elements (icons, patterns, textures, photo styling, and graphic accents)
Key brand messaging elements such as tagline(s) and headline examples
Selected add-ons
Week 1 Strategic workbook and workshop
Week 2 Create Creative Compass and review
Week 3 Sketching and conceptual exploration
Week 4 Concepts developed
Week 5 Concepts presented and reviewed
Week 6-7 Curate concept feedback and finalize visual system trough stylescape method
Week 8-9 Create brand guide and package kit
Week 10+ Website or any other chosen add-ons
Every relationship is unique. That is why the pricing is listed as "starting at..." We know what it takes to create the essentials, but we can add on any of the below elements that might apply...
Copywriting
Photography, videography, or animation
Collateral (business card, stationery, docs, etc.)
Environmental design, signage, or wayfinding
Package design or apparel design
Branded social media posts and templates
Illustration
Print or digital ads
Stylescape (included with Brand Presence)
Website
Startups, solopreneurs, and micro-businesses... get out there and start kicking butt and taking names! With our experience and your trust, we can create a well-crafted, fuss-free, starter identity. This offer exists to help smaller or newer businesses carve out a unique presence quickly and at a lower financial investment or serve as a "proof of concept" to better secure startup funding.
Two unique identity concepts presented in application
Finalized logos, color palette, and font recommendation
Brand kit of best-practice files
Day 1 Interview with brand owner
Day 2-3 Sketches and ideation
Day 4-5 Two concepts developed and presented in application
Week 2 Refine and finalize selected concept and hand over
Select one of the two options, as presented to finalize.
Minimal revisions such as color swaps, small adjustments, etc., are included. If applicable, more major revisions will be billed hourly and the timeline extended beyond 2 weeks as needed.
If feedback or decisions are not met within the 2 weeks, we will need to reschedule the completion of the project contingent on the current schedule.
