Brand identity built to be used, not admired
Logo systems, colour, typography, stationery and guidelines, delivered as something your team can apply on a Tuesday afternoon without asking us.
The logo is rarely the problem
Businesses come to us saying they need a new logo. Almost always the mark is adequate and the system around it does not exist, no rules for colour, no type scale, no stationery, nothing that tells the next person what to do.
So the brand drifts. Three shades of the same blue, four button styles, a logo stretched to fit a banner. Not one bad decision, just fifty small ones taken by people with nothing to follow.
Your office manager, your printer, your next developer. If the rules only exist in a designer's head, they stop applying the moment that designer leaves.
Nobody can articulate why one business looks more established than another. It is usually that everything matches, the invoice, the van, the email signature.
Which is why a refresh often beats a rebrand. Throwing away a mark customers already know costs more than the design fee ever shows.
A system, not a logo file
Where brands come apart
- One logo file, no variations
A single horizontal PNG with a white background, so it cannot go on a dark header, a square avatar or anything printed. Every application becomes an improvisation.
- Colour with no rules
A palette of eight colours and no statement of which is primary, which is accent, or what may sit on what. Within a year nothing matches.
- Type that was never specified
The designer used one typeface, the website uses another, and the proposals default to Calibri. Three identities for one business.
- Guidelines nobody opens
A forty-page PDF delivered once and never referenced. Rules that are hard to find are rules that will not be followed.
Our own guidelines are a live web page rather than a document, so the rules sit where the people applying them already work.
You can see exactly what that looks like. We publish ours at scintillaweb.com/brand.
Identity work and applications
Logo systems, stationery, templates and guidelines, applied across print and screen.
More in the portfolio.
Agree the rules,
then draw the marks
Discovery
Who buys from you, what they are choosing between, and what the brand has to signal at the moment of that choice.
Direction
Two or three routes shown as applied examples, a card, a page header, a post, not as logos floating on white.
Build the system
The chosen route developed into lockups, palette, type scale and the applications you actually need.
Guidelines and handover
A live style guide, every source file, and a walkthrough so your team can apply it without us.
We apply the brand, not just design it
The same team builds the website, so the identity is tested against real pages, real forms and real print files before it is signed off.
Start a project ↗Shown applied, never floating on white +
Routes are presented on a card, a page and a post. A logo looks good in isolation; what matters is how it behaves in use.
Contrast checked before sign-off +
Every colour pair measured against WCAG thresholds, so the palette does not become an accessibility problem later.
Guidelines as a live page +
Not a PDF. A web page your team can search, link to and keep open while they work.
We will recommend a refresh +
If your mark is working and the system around it is not, we will say so rather than sell a rebrand you do not need.
Print files that print +
Correct bleed, safe margins and CMYK notes, with a proof recommended before any run.
You own everything +
Source files, exports and guidelines handed over. No licences held by us.
Brand work we take on
From a logo system for a new business to a refresh and a full set of applications.
Logo and mark
A primary lockup plus the variations a real business needs, stacked, horizontal, mark only, single colour, and a favicon that still reads at 16 pixels.
Most logos are designed once at one size. The failures show up later, on a van door, an invoice footer or a social avatar.
Colour and typography
A palette with defined roles and contrast checked against WCAG, and a type pairing with a scale your team can apply without guessing.
A palette without rules becomes decoration. Defining which colour does which job is what keeps it consistent a year later.
Brand guidelines
A living style guide covering logo usage, colour, type, voice, imagery and the do-nots, written to be used rather than filed.
A PDF nobody opens is not a system. We deliver guidelines your team and any future supplier can actually follow.
Stationery and print
Business cards, letterhead and invoice templates set up as print-ready files with correct bleed, and as editable versions for day-to-day use.
Stationery is where a brand meets a bank, a supplier and a client. It is also where inconsistency is most visible.
Social and digital collateral
Post templates, profile assets and presentation decks built from the same system, with rules for headline length and accent use.
Social is where most brands drift first, because the person posting is rarely the person who commissioned the identity.
Brand refresh
Keeping what customers recognise and fixing what is failing, usually the palette, the type and the applications rather than the mark itself.
A full rebrand throws away recognition you have already paid for. Often the mark is fine and everything around it is not.
Naming and messaging
Positioning, the sentence that explains what you do, and the language that runs through the site, the deck and the proposals.
An identity that looks considered and reads like everyone else solves half the problem.
Brand and website together
The identity designed and then applied to a working site by the same team, so what was drawn is what ships.
Handing a brand book to a separate web team is where most identities quietly degrade.
Brand questions, answered
What does a brand identity project include? +
A logo system in every lockup you need, a palette with usage rules, typography, stationery and written guidelines. Applied collateral such as social templates or signage is quoted separately so you only pay for what you will use.
How long does it take? +
Four to eight weeks for most businesses, depending on how much collateral is in scope and how quickly feedback comes back.
Do we own the files? +
Yes. Source files, every export format and the guidelines, owned outright. Nothing is held under our licence.
Can you refresh rather than rebrand? +
Often that is the right answer. A refresh keeps what customers recognise and fixes what is failing, usually at a fraction of the cost.
What does it cost? +
Quoted after a short discovery call, as a fixed price with a date. Scope drives the number. A logo system alone sits well below a full identity with print and digital applications.
Will you design our website too? +
Usually yes, and it is the cheaper route. The identity gets tested against real pages rather than handed to a separate team to interpret.
How many logo routes do we see? +
Two or three, each shown applied. More than that tends to produce decision paralysis rather than a better outcome.
Do you do naming? +
Yes, as a separate piece of work. Naming has its own process and its own trademark considerations, and it should not be rushed alongside a visual identity.
Brand drifting, or never defined?
Thirty minutes on what you have and what it is costing you in consistency. You leave with a view either way.
Book a free call ↗