What should you ask before creating a brand identity?

The business and its customers, exactly what has to be delivered (logo, variations, guidelines, stationery), what already exists and must be kept, the colours wanted and the ones to avoid, and two or three brands the client likes with the reason.

How do you get a client to describe a style?

By asking what they do not want, then for two or three examples they like with the reason. “Modern and clean” is what everybody answers and describes no logo at all. “No gradients, no script” is usable straight away.

Brand identity: the variations listed before the first sketch

The business and its customers, exactly what has to be delivered, what already exists, the colours wanted and the ones to avoid.

Create my studio for free See the questions

A logo is never a logo. It is a logo, its horizontal version, its version in black, its icon for a profile picture, and the vector file the printer will ask for in six months. Delivering “the logo” and discovering the list one request at a time is three weeks of unbilled variations. The second thing to ask is what the client does not want: people name what they dislike far better than what they like.

This is a suggestion, not a standard. We do not do your job: this list is a starting point, to be added to, cut down and rephrased to suit the way you work.

The questions

14 questions. Logo, guidelines, variations. Five minutes of brief.

What you do

Before the colours: what you do, and who for.

What does your business do, in one sentence?
Short text · Required
Who are you talking to?
Short text · Required
Your competitors, and what you make of them
Long text · Optional
What you dislike about them helps me as much as what you like.

What needs creating

The logo, and everything that comes with it.

What do you need?
Multiple choice · Required
The answers offered:
- A logo
- Logo variations
- Brand guidelines
- Business cards
- Stationery
- An email signature
- Social media assets
- Vehicle graphics
Where will the logo be used?
Multiple choice · Required
It changes the drawing: embroidered or very small, a logo has to hold up without fine detail.
The answers offered:
- Screen and social media
- Stationery and business cards
- A shopfront or window
- A vehicle
- Embroidered clothing
- A stamp or foil block
- Large format (banner, poster)
New build or rebrand?
Single choice · Required
The answers offered:
- New, there is nothing
- A rebrand, I already have a logo
What already exists
File · Optional
Your current logo, a sign, a business card: even a photo will do.

The style

The direction, without you having to draw it yourself.

How should people see you?
Multiple choice · Optional
Tick three or four, no more: an identity that says everything says nothing.
The answers offered:
- Modern
- Handmade
- Premium
- Approachable
- Serious
- Playful
- Technical
- Warm
- Environmental
A colour that feels like you
Colour · Optional
What you really do not want
Long text · Optional
Easier to say, and just as useful: a colour, a style, a competitor.
Identities you like
Long text · Optional
From any line of work at all: what matters is what they give off. Images can be attached at the end of the form.

And finally

Your deadline, and anything that did not fit the questions above.

When do you need it?
Dropdown · Required
The answers offered:
- As soon as possible
- Within 2 weeks
- Within a month
- No particular deadline
Anything you would like to add?
Long text · Optional
A constraint, a question, a detail I ought to bear in mind.
Any other files to attach
File · Optional
On top of what is asked for above: screenshots, sketches, documents. HEIC from an iPhone is fine.

The colours to offer

A client who writes “blue” and a studio who reads “blue” are not talking about the same colour. A list of shades settles it straight away.

Black
White
Cream
Deep red
Petrol blue
Eau de nil
Ochre
Plum

How it works

1
You pick your trade
When you sign up, and the questions on this page are already in your account. You cut them down, add to them and rephrase them: nothing is fixed.
2
You send one link
Your client answers from their phone, when they can, and uploads their files. They install nothing, create no account and choose no password.
3
What follows stays in one place
The conversation, the chasing, the later rounds of questions, the deposit and the balance, and the delivery of the files, which can open on its own once the payment settles.

What it costs

Free up to five orders a month, with no card and no time limit. Past that a paid plan takes over, and nothing about the way you work changes.

See the plans

Frequently asked questions

What should you ask before creating a brand identity?: The business and its customers, exactly what has to be delivered (logo, variations, guidelines, stationery), what already exists and must be kept, the colours wanted and the ones to avoid, and two or three brands the client likes with the reason.
How do you get a client to describe a style?: By asking what they do not want, then for two or three examples they like with the reason. “Modern and clean” is what everybody answers and describes no logo at all. “No gradients, no script” is usable straight away.

Think something is wrong?

A question that is missing, one that means nothing in your trade, a word that is not the right one: write to us and we will fix it.

Write to us at [email protected]

These questions are already waiting for you

Create your studio, pick your trade, and this brief is there. You send one link, your client answers once, and you follow what happens next in the same place.

Create my studio for free Read the blog