Brand identity, uncovered not invented.
The name, the look, the language, and the materials that carry them. We’re a brand identity and graphic design studio in Lebanon, Indiana, working across greater Indianapolis and beyond.
What we mean by brand identity
Your brand is how people see you, and it is doing that job whether anyone designed it or not. It is the piece every other bit of marketing runs through.
Most people hear "brand identity" and think logo. A logo is part of it, and usually the last part. The rest is what you stand for, what makes you different from the place down the road, and the voice people recognize before they read your name. It is everything that makes your organization yours.
Brand identity is the whole system someone meets when they run into you: what you’re called, how you look, how you sound, and what all of it adds up to in someone’s head after they’ve stopped looking.
The good news is that you already have one. Every organization does, whether anyone designed it or not. Our job is mostly to find the true version and make it deliberate.
Why you might need this
A few situations where this work tends to pay for itself.
- You’ve outgrown something you made quickly in year one and never revisited
- Your materials were made by different people at different times and it shows
- You’re about to launch, merge, rename, or ask people for money
- Your work has changed and your brand is still describing the old version
- You can describe what you do perfectly out loud and it falls flat on paper
If none of those land, your brand is probably doing its job. That’s the goal.
What we make
From color palettes and typography to packaging, signage, and the guidelines that hold it all together, we build the system that makes you recognizable. Every engagement is scoped to what you actually need, so nobody pays for a piece they will never use.
- Naming, and the reasoning behind it
- Brand strategy and positioning
- Logo and wordmark, in every format you will actually use
- Color palettes and typography, with the rules for using them
- Voice and messaging, in words you would say out loud
- Brand guidelines your team can hand to anyone
- Print collateral and stationery
- Packaging and labeling
- Presentation and document templates
- Environmental design: wayfinding, retail, and signage
- Tradeshow and event branding
- Motion graphics and animation
- Copywriting
- Photography and art direction
Websites and brand films are services of their own, with their own pages: Website Design and Brand Films.
How it starts
Before any of that, there’s a conversation.
It’s called Brand Truths. There’s nothing to prepare and nothing to buy. We ask questions, you talk, and you leave with a short written summary of what we heard. If we go further, that summary is what everything gets built from. If we don’t, it’s yours to keep.
What makes this different
Two things, and neither is a claim about talent.
First, we don’t open with logos. Most of this work happens in conversation before anyone opens a design file, which is slower at the start and much faster after.
Second, we’re small on purpose. The people you meet are the people doing the work. There is no account layer between you and whoever is actually making the thing.