My complete client brand design process (step by step)
As you might already know, if you know Big Cat Creative at all, I (Erica) have been a designer for a looong time now. I've worked in lots of different design jobs and designed a bit of everything. You name it, I've probably designed it.
But my heart truly lies in Brand and Web Design, and that's where Big Cat Creative started. I love being a part of a small businesses success story, and a huge part of that is designing and establishing a brand. A beautiful, impactful and (so importantly) cohesive online presence is music to my ears (or eyes, I guess).
Maybe you already knew that about me. What you probably don’t know is that I’m an "organization enthusiast" (to put it veryyy lightly) and I love having processes put in place.
When you’re running a business, putting processes in place is essential. Especially a design business, where you’re usually juggling at least a few clients at once. (On top of all of the internal business task you have to do!)
I believe in having processes for everything, and today I’m going to share my simple brand design process, step by step.
In this post, you’ll learn how to...
Map out a step-by-step brand design process that keeps every project flowing smoothly
Confidently manage client work (or your own DIY brand!) using simple systems
Use tools like Clickup, Kit, Loom, and Adobe Illustrator to streamline your workflow
Create visuals with intention—think mood boards, color palettes, logos, and style guides
Deliver polished brand assets like a pro and gather glowing client testimonials
Like I said, I've been designing for a long time, so my process has really developed and streamlined over the years. But the process I'm going to share with you today is a simple, to-the-point brand design process that will helpful for you if you’re new to designing brands for clients, or even if you’re DIYing your own brand.
And if you want to take a deeper dive into what it’s like starting your own web design & template shop, you can 👉 take our free training for an even more in depth look.
Alright let’s dive in to my complete client brand design process...
Staying Organized with your Brand Design Projects & Client Management
I recommend using a project management software to keep track of all your projects!
If you are starting our as a designer, or new in business in general, I highly recommend Asana! It's free, super intuitive and is great for managing tasks.
There's also a ton of other great project management software out there, so anything you choose is great. Anything is better than a notebook! 😅
So, to keep things organised, you'd list all of the steps below in Asana as tasks. If there’s a strict time frame, you can assign your clients to specific tasks and set a due date. Yup, that's right—you can bring your clients into Asana to keep them on track too! This really helps get the project moving.
But this isn't a project management tutorial, so let's get into the good stuff. My complete client brand design process step by step:
Step 1: Send Client Questionnaire - Understanding Your Client’s Target Audience
Firstly, we need to figure out the clients target audience. Defining the target audience is so important because we need to design strategically to attract them.
I collect all of this information via a questionnaire form I have set up for clients.
💡 Tech tip! You could do this with a free Google Form, or using a Form that's built into your website (you do have a website, don't you? 😬) We love Squarespace for websites, and they have a free built-in form block!
I ask my clients to envision a single ideal person, rather than a group of people, and answer the questions talking specifically about this imaginary person. This is often easier than thinking of a whole audience, and we can get super specific!
Questions to include in your client target audience questionnaire:
Envision your ideal customer. What is their age and gender?
What industry do they work in?
What is their marital status?
What are their hobbies and interests?
What are some of the pain points or worries they experience in their daily life?
What are their hopes and dreams?
What social media platforms do they spend time on?
I ask a variety of questions like this to gauge who exactly my client is trying to target. Often, before filling out this questionnaire, the client has only a general idea of who they want to target. So by giving them this questionnaire, it’s not only clear to me who we’re targeting, but it clarifies it for them too.
If you’re designing a brand for yourself, make sure you take these steps to define your ideal audience. It’s easy to skip over this step when you’re branding yourself, but it will make the rest of the process so much easier–even your future marketing efforts, social media content, language on your website–all of this will feel so much easier when you have a clear target audience in mind.
👉 Curious about what makes a successful brand or biz?? Check out our notes on the 3 elements of a successful brand
Step 2: Client Intake Questionnaire – Branding & Design Preferences
Once the client has worked through the target audience questionnaire, I give them another questionnaire centered around the actual design. What they’re envisioning, what they’re attracted to, what they want from their new brand.
This is such a helpful questionnaire, it makes sure you’re set up to create something that you know they’re going to like. I refer back to this constantly while i'm designing their brand.
Questions to include in your branding client questionnaire:
Tell us more information about your company and the services you services offer.
What is your business mission statement, your goals, and purpose?
What emotions do you want your brand to exude?
What colors are you drawn to, or not drawn to?
Do you have a preference on typography?
Are there any brands that inspire you?
In addition to collecting information on their personal design and business, I also make sure to collect links to different brands that they love–competitors in their industry, brands they dislike or anything else they want to show me.
If you’re creating your own brand, it’s important to ask yourself similar questions and compile some examples of what you like and dislike to refer back to throughout the process.
Once they have submitted this questionnaire, I read through it thoroughly and conduct some research. What are their competitors doing? What are the specific things they like? Dislike? What is their business mission and how are we going to show it?
I work through the questions and make sure I understand all of the answers. If I’m not clear on anything, I will contact the client and get them to explain further.
The more information = the easier the branding process.
I compile all of the questionnaire answers and any other information they give me into the specific task in Asana, so I can easily refer back to it often without having to look through my emails.
I ended up creating a free quiz a while back for anyone who wants to design their own website, but they’re unsure of what website style or personality they want. It’s helped a lot of folks understand what website style they like, and can even be helpful for web designers to send to their clients if they need more insight into what their clients like visually. I’ll link it here in case it’s helpful 👉 free quiz to discover your website style.
Step 3: Create a Mood Board Using Pinterest Inspiration
Before the questionnaires are filled out, I ask my clients to start a Pinterest inspiration board (this is optional, but usually clients love this step!). Then in the questionnaires, there’s a section to add the URL to the Pinterest board so I can view it.
The Pinterest board is to get an even better idea of what the client is attracted to. I encourage them to Pin anything and everything they like, and then I will comb through it and take what I think will work and will align well with their brand.
From there, I create a mood board for their brand. A mood board is an arrangement of images, materials, colors and pieces of text that will project a particular style or concept. In this case, it will be based on the questionnaires, the Pinterest board and all of the creative research, and should be on the right track for the overall feel of the brand!
Starting by getting the mood of the brand right is a vital first step to successful branding.
This is a crucial step that you don’t want to miss! Creating a mood board is going to ensure you and the client are on the same page, and if you get this correct now, then the rest of the brand will come together smoothly.
If you don’t know where to start on creating a mood board, you can check out our post on how to create the perfect mood board for your small business. We also have some information on how to create a mood board in Illustrator if you like that better.
Chances are there will be a few things they want to tweak. Tweaking a few things on a mood board takes minutes, compared to tweaking a whole brand (colors, fonts, logo) which you would have to do if you skipped the moodboard step and jumped straight into the full brand design!
If you’re creating the brand for yourself, definitely don’t miss this step either. You can constantly refer back to your mood board when you’re creating collateral for you brand and it makes the rest of the process a breeze.
I send this off to the client, and there may be a couple of revisions. Once the client has approved, I tick the task off in Asana and move on to the next step.
Tip! Make sure before you start the project you have a set amount of revisions or time for the moodboard outlined in your agreement.
Step 4: Choosing a Brand Color Palette That Aligns With Your Mood Board
While I’m creating the mood board, I'm always thinking about colors and how they will work together based on the different images and elements I've pulled. Naturally, it's quite easy to come up with color palette variations if you have created a cohesive mood board.
I send color palette ideas (usually 2 or 3, too many options can be a bad thing!) to the client to choose from. These rarely need to be revised as they are closely based on the mood board, which has already been refined and approved!
I go more in depth on how to actually create your color palette in this blog post 👉 How to Create the Perfect Color Palette for Your Brand
Step 5: Sketching & Presenting Logo Concepts for Client Feedback
Now I start creating concepts for the logo. I usually begin on paper (or ipad), sketching out my ideas and getting creative.
I then take ideas from my sketch book and create presentable logos in Adobe Illustrator. I will provide my client with 2 or 3 unique designs to choose from—this number depends on your initial agreement but usually too many options can cause confusion, and it's often easier to just pick your best.
From here we will go through a few rounds of revisions. I ask the client to be really specific in their response about what they like/don't like about the logo.
Questions to ask your client when revising logo concepts:
What logo stands out to you the most?
What specifically do you like about that logo?
What specifically do you not like about the logo?
What elements of other logos do you like and dislike?
etc...
Asking questions like these prompts the client to get specific and provide really useful feedback.
If the client is taking a long time to provide feedback, I create a task in Asana assigned to them with a due date to revise the most recent logos.
If you're creating the brand for yourself, this step can be tricky because giving feedback for your own brand is hard. I suggest sending your logos out to friends and family and ask them the questions like I would ask my client. Make sure you send them to people you know will give you honest feedback!
I usually do around 2-3 rounds of revisions to get the logo perfect for the client, but again, this depends on your initial agreement! Once the logo is perfect and the client is happy, I tick this off in Asana, and move on to creating all of the final elements for the brand.
Step 6: Building a Brand Style Board & Supporting Brand Collateral
Now it all starts to come together! Because we did so much pre-work, creative research and really built the brand foundations from the ground up, this last design step (which seems like a big one) actually is probably the quickest.
If we keep referring back to the mood board, color palette and questionnaires, this step is easy and will often get very few revisions.
What I like to create for brand style boards:
Alternative Logos/Submarks
Logos in a variety of color combinations
Custom Brand Textures and Patterns
Font Combinations
Any extra brand collateral that the client asked for
I put this all together and present it to my client on one of my signature Branding Style Boards, and as always, revise until perfect!
The aim with the Brand Style Board, or any type or Brand Presentation, is to encompass all of the design features into one document. So, if in the future your client needs to hire a different designer or company, the new designer should be able to view the Branding Style Board and know exactly what to do to keep the designs on brand and cohesive.
It should include their brand details like colors, fonts, and logo variations, and how to use all of these elements. If you've created any brand extras, include these too. You can also include mockups of designs you have created to show their brand in action and so they get a true sense of how their brand feels and how it can be used.
It’s a foolproof way of making sure your client’s design is always perfect, especially if you aren’t around to help them.
If you’re designing your own brand, I strongly suggest creating your own style board. This is the backbone of your brand design. You can always refer back to this to keep any of your collateral on brand, which is really important!
This is the last step of the design where it all comes together as a complete brand, so at this point, your client should be over the moon and extremely excited to use their new designs.
If you’re curious on what I offer in my brand design packages, I’ve listed it out in this post 👉 what I include in my brand design packages.
Step 7: How to Deliver Final Brand Files Professionally
Phew! We’re all done with the brand design. Now the last final hurdle is collecting all of the files to send to your client.
I create folder and organise all of the files into that folder.
💡 Tech tip! I recommend using some form of cloud storage like Dropbox or Google Drive, because this folder will be way too large to send over email! Plus this is great for backing up and storing all of your client projects long term.
What to include in your final brand deliverable delivery:
All working files in .Ai format (usually just one large file with all documents)
All logo variations in High Res Transparent .PNGs
All logo variations in .EPS
All files intended for print in .PDF
Textures and Patterns in .JPG (also in the main working file as .AI)
Branding Style Board in .JPG (also in the main working file as. AI)
Moodboard in .JPG
Make sure you use different sub folders to keep it organized for the client.
After I have shared the files with the client, I make sure the have instructions on how to download or add the files to their cloud storage. I also let them know that I won’t hold onto their files forever (if you want, you can give a deletion date eg "we'll only store your files for 90 days"), so they need to take full responsibility for keeping them safe.
Sometimes I’ll record a Loom video, where I record my screen and talk through how to access the files, any training videos the client has asked for, etc. It’s a super helpful tool, and adds an extra touch to the client experience.
My aim is to give them everything they need so they don’t need to come back to me and ask for more files. Also so that in the future if they needed someone to design something for them, they could send them the working files without a problem.
If you want to know more in depth on things I do in web design & with my template shop to be successful, you can check out our free training.
Step 8: Asking for Client Testimonials
At this stage (when the client is still really excited and loving their project) I ask for a testimonial, and referrals where possible.
Don’t wait too long to ask, or you probably won’t get a reply (without nagging!). It’s not that the client is not wanting to do one, but you can imagine it isn’t their first priority, so ask them while it’s still fresh in their mind.
You can just email them and ask them to share a testimonial with you, however a really in-depth way to get feedback is to set up a questionnaire. If you prompt the testimonial with questions, you can get a really detailed testimonial, and also hopefully some constructive feedback to implement!
Sometimes clients also just don’t know what to write or how to start a testimonial, so having prompted sections to write in can be helpful to them.
Tools We Use (and Love) in Our Client Brand Design Process
I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t take a second to talk about the tools I use to keep my client brand design process running smoothly. I have found that by using the right tools, I have saved so much time, and it’s made the experience so much better—for you and your clients. Here are some of our ride-or-die favorite tools:
Clickup – So we used to use Asana, and we liked it, but Clickup has been even better for our biz. I love that it makes project management so simple. Tasks, due dates, client checklists? Done.
Squarespace – Our go-to platform for building beautiful, strategic websites fast. Use BIGCATCREATIVE10 for 10% off your first year.
Flodesk – A gorgeous, beginner-friendly email marketing tool.
Kit (formerly known as ConverKit) – A great option for more advanced email sequences and launch automation.
Dropbox Plus – Best way to deliver organized files and assets to clients.
Loom – Our favorite tool for recording quick walkthrough videos to explain design decisions and keep communication crystal clear.
Adobe Illustrator – Where all the logo design magic happens.
You can peruse more of our absolute fav tech tools, software, discounts & freebies that we love and use on the regular here!
So that's it! A simple brand design process. I recommend you take this process and really make it yours. Set it up in your own project management software. Refine and tweak it over time to be the best it can be, and to serve your clients in the best way possible. Create templates for each step. Really build upon it as you learn.
Hopefully these are the foundations you need to get started in your brand design journey, and you have lots of happy clients!
Thanks for reading!
Erica x
P.S. I highly recommend you sign up for our free training on how to start a successful template shop. It has some good web design insights & a few of our sercret keys to success. It literally just goes straight to your inbox so you can watch it instantly, or have it as a resource when you’re ready! Just click below to get instant access! 👇💃✨
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