Every project starts in the same place.
The first three stages are the same whether you are here for the thinking, the identity, or the ongoing. After that the work splits, because working out what a brand says and building the system that carries it are not the same job and should not pretend to be.
Here is the whole thing, so you know what you are agreeing to before you go forward. No bullsh*t.
Enquiry
Let’s see if we’re a good fit.
You start with a short enquiry form, then we jump on a call. This is the big-picture conversation: your business, your goals, what is not working, and where you want to grow. Equal parts listening, asking questions, and thinking out loud together.
You do not need to know which of offers you want yet. Working that out is part of what the call is for.
Keywords: connection, clarity, alignment, goals, vision
Proposal
Turning ideas into a clear plan.
Based on our discovery, you’ll receive a tailored project proposal outlining the scope, timeline, deliverables, and investment. Everything is laid out clearly so you know exactly what you’re getting and how we’ll get there – no surprises.
Keywords: structure, transparency, scope, timeline, investment
Onboarding
Everything in one place (and easy to use) whew!
Once the proposal is signed we kick off with the contract, the deposit, and a questionnaire that gets your direction and your audience down in writing. You get your own Notion client portal: timelines, key information, presentations, and every final file, all in one place you can come back to.
If we are working on an ongoing basis, this is also where we set the dates. Who approves things, when the work lands, when feedback is due. The boring stuff, but the reason everything keeps running smoothly.
Keywords: dashboard, timeline, clarity, client portal, organisation, ease
What happens next depends on what you have booked. Shape is the strategy: deciding what your brand says, to whom, and how it gets into the world. Build is the design: creating the visual system that carries it. Run is the ongoing: a monthly rhythm that keeps it all showing up. They answer different questions and produce different things, and none is a lighter version of another. Each stands as a complete piece of work on its own, and they are at their best in sequence.
For: Working out what you’re saying
Discovery
A kickoff session and a questionnaire, plus a look at what you already have and at what comparable organisations do well.
Position & Story
Where your business, your audience and the world overlap, turned into your positioning, your through-line, and a map of how the same idea shifts for different people.
The system.
Content pillars, repeatable formats with a worked example each, and a channel plan, so nobody is starting from a blank page.
Voice & handover
Setting you up for what’s next.
A voice guide with real example posts, briefs your team can run from, and a recorded working session where we pressure-test it all against your next few months.
What you end up with: a system your team can run without asking me. The positioning, the briefs, and the recorded session are all yours to keep. That is the whole point.
For: Holding it together.
Brand Strategy & Creative Direction
Defining the ‘why’ before the ‘wow.
Every build starts with thinking, not drawing. Before any logo exists we work out enough of the strategy to direct the design honestly: what your business does, who it is for, and what the visuals need to signal.
The difference from Shape is depth, not presence. A Build carries the strategy as far as the visual system needs it; Shape takes it all the way into the words, the messaging, and the plan your team runs on. If you have done Shape, this part moves fast, because those answers are already written down.
Keywords: strategy, direction, positioning, intention, alignment
Brand Design
Where strategy meets the fun part.
With strategy locked in, we move into design. Your visual identity comes to life through logos, typography, colour, and real-world brand assets. Depending on your project, this may include social media templates and digital assets. Through collaborative feedback rounds, we refine the work until it feels confident, cohesive, and unmistakably yours.
Keywords: visual identity, brand collateral, assets, consistency, confidence, usability
Guidelines & handover
Setting you up for what’s next.
Once everything is finalised, you will recieve your complete brand package arrives through your portal, with guidance on how to use it, so you launch feeling ready rather than wondering what the file formats mean.
What you end up with: a complete visual identity system that holds together wherever your brand shows up. More than a logo, every time.
For: Keeping it showing up
Monthly Rhythm
Run has a month, and the month repeats.
Each month set batch of designed posts and stories, reusable on-brand templates you can post from yourself, a simple content plan for what goes out and when, and one-off pieces like flyers or ads up to an agreed amount. The batch size is fixed in your agreement, so you always know what is coming.
And it runs on dates, not moods. Same dates every time, written into your agreement, so the work has a shape instead of bleeding across the calendar.
What you get
A brand that keeps turning up, and a month you do not have to think about.
The bit that makes it work: the batch lands on a date, not on demand, which is what keeps the price the same every month. Your part is simple: photos and dates at the start of the month, and feedback in one go.
And there is no handover, because Run does not end. We review it on a set date rather than when things start to feel off, and the templates are yours to keep using either way.
What changes when you take more than one.
Stack is more than one of the three, done in order, by the same person. The stages do not simply run twice. They join up, which is most of the argument for doing it this way.
The Combinations
Shape+Build
The strategy, then the identity built on it. Discovery runs once, the creative direction stage all but disappears because the answers are already written down, and the design lands with the messaging to back it.
Build+Run
The brand visual identity, then the monthly rhythm that keeps it consistent. The first content plan is drafted before the build wraps, so Run’s first month starts from your new system rather than from scratch.
The Full Stack.
Named, built, and kept showing up, with one person holding it from first call to ongoing. One discovery, one thread the whole way through
What joins up:
One discovery, not two or three. Stage 01 happens once. Shape’s discovery feeds Build’s creative direction directly, so you are not re-answering the same questions to the same person.
One proposal, with dates. The whole sequence is laid out up front, but each stage still has its own start and finish. Nothing is locked beyond the stage you have agreed to.
The middle stages get shorter. A Build after a Shape moves faster and argues less, because every design decision has something written down to point at.
Run starts the month after handover, not six months later once things have already drifted.
Brands drift in the gaps, not in the work. Stack has no gaps because there is nobody to hand over to.
A few things people ask…
A Build typically runs [four to eight] weeks, depending on depth, and a one-off Shape is similar. Run begins the month after the agreement is signed, with a three month minimum term. Your proposal includes a full timeline with confirmed dates.
Nope. Each service stands on its own, and most clients begin with one. If a single service is the better fit for where your business is right now, that is what I will recommend.
Shape before Build, and Build before Run. The thinking directs the design, and the design gives the ongoing work its system, so the sequence only runs one way. You can join it at whichever point fits your business, but if the strategy matters to your project, it comes first.
That happens, and there is a process for it. A project inactive for more than 30 days is formally paused, and restarting it is scoped in your proposal so picking it back up is straightforward. Retainer months are invoiced as scheduled, as your place in the calendar is held throughout. All of this is set out in writing before we begin.
Ready when you are.
Have an idea you’re ready to explore or a brand that needs clarity? Share a few details and let’s see if we’re a good fit.