The Design Process & Some New Work
It's been a while
It’s been a while, and I can only apologise. I have been busy in the best way. Since my last newsletter, I have worked on two big brand redesigns, one a pitch (that wasn’t won, sadly!) and one that is still ongoing, but very nearly at its close. Alongside these I have completed another Substack redesign - which I will share in this email, and some other smaller projects including brochure illustrations, a leaflet design, merchandise design for a charity and a brand design tweak.
With a flurry of enquiries lately, I thought it would be a good time to outline the design process we go through at K-A Creative so if you are interested in working together, you know what to expect. The design process itself doesn’t change hugely with the scope of a design project - we still need to move through the same processes, although of course the smaller the scope, the quicker we move through the steps.
The Design Process
Want to work together but not sure what to expect?
Here is an outline of the process for a typical brand redesign project. (Or any project, really.)
Discovery Call
We hop onto a video call and talk about your business and what you want/need from the project. This call will form the Design Brief.
2. Quote - Get Booked In
We put together an estimated cost and timeline (which you hopefully agree to!) Once agreed we move onto contracts and payment of deposit. Once we have the deposit we can book the work in. (This is usually 10% of the total project estimate)
3. Research
We deep dive into your business design problem and use this to inform the concept stage.
4. Concept 1 - Sketch
Often we sketch, create mood boards and net out a few territories and/or designs which we will then present. (I share a snippet further down the page of the sketch process for Jumping The Shark)
5. Concept 2 - Design the Brand World
Following feedback we further define a select few of the designs digitally and test them on multiple touchpoints. Often we look at a web landing page, social media favicon and social media templates, along with a printed example, eg. A leaflet, letterheads, business card. We also love to design merch. At this stage we are looking to create a snippet of the brand world for each design concept.
6. Development 1
Now we have to narrow it down with further development of just one design following feedback. The estimate usually costs for one round of development but we can keep going until everyone is happy.
7. Finalisation
This is getting all the details and assets right and ready for sign off. This could be putting things on cutters, using signed off copy - really getting into the nitty gritty of things.
8. Asset Creation & Artwork
Once the assets are signed off, we ensure that the assets are ready to use. For a brand design this typically would be creating the various file formats of the logo in various orientations along with any other deliverables agreed in the contract.
9. Guidelines
This is a comprehensive pdf document that can be created during the artwork phase. This ensures that the new brand design is easy to implement consistently moving forward. It is also a helpful document to have if you have a large team or will need to brief other people to implement the design, eg, social media designers, brand photographers or web designers.
10. Launch
This bit is up to you, but once it’s out in the world, we will shout about it whether online, pdf portfolio or on the website as long as that’s okay to do so.
Jumping The Shark
Elaine came to me with a problem. She had been writing on her Substack, Jumping the Shark for almost a year and she had fallen out of love with it. On Jumping the Shark with Elaine Gregersen she writes about life and grief with pop culture references, and although sometimes the subject matter and experiences can be serious and sad, her writing can be very funny. Her previous brand identity wasn’t cutting it. It wasn’t showing the pop culture element of her writing (arguably her USP) and it wasn’t joyous and funny - actually it wasn’t very Elaine.
After a chat and a sketch round we landed on this design bringing to life the reference of Jumping the Shark itself. (From Happy Days - IYKYK)
With a contrasting bold and bright colour palette, vintage-inspired photography and a bunch of pop culture references hidden in the illustration, the design is now boldly authentic, funny and in Elaine’s words, mildly unhinged.
It was a joy to work with Elaine on this brand redesign and I am excited to read more of her newsletter in the future (and you should too - subscribe to Jumping the Shark with Elaine Gregersen )
I hope now that with social media templates and a comprehensive set of brand guidelines provided by K-A Creative, the implementation of both the design onto Substack and the designing of further marketing materials going forward will be easy and joyful.
And if, like Elaine, you want your Substack newsletter to a) better reflect it’s content and attract the right readers and b) Be Fun to Use…. You know who to call.
(That was a Ghostbuster’s reference, get it?)
Thank you for reading,
from,
If you would like to chat about all things brand design in the Substack App, please do leave a comment and share your thoughts.
K-A creative is an independent design studio building brands that resonate.
In ensuring that the brand identity works hard to establish a meaningful connection with consumers, we can help brands to stand out in people’s hearts and minds. Because meaningful brands are more memorable brands.
If you would like to work together, get in touch by replying to this newsletter or email: kylie.kacreative@gmail.com