02 · Design Labs

Brand identity in Minneapolis

Naming, identity systems, logo, palette and voice, plus the rules that hold it together after we hand it over.

Minneapolis, Saint Paul and the north metro

A logo is not a brand. The brand is what happens when the sign, the menu, the cups, the van and the website all look like they came from the same company, and that only holds if somebody wrote the rules down.

We build the whole system and hand over the files a sign shop, a printer and a developer can each use without calling us to ask what the colour is.

What you get

What is included.

Naming

When there is not a name yet, or the one there is cannot be trademarked or spelled down a phone.

Logo and marks

A primary mark plus the variations real life demands: one colour, tiny, on a dark van door.

Palette and type

Chosen for where it will actually appear, including print, where screens lie to you.

The rulebook

What to do and what never to do, short enough that somebody will actually read it.

Production files

Vector, print and web exports, correctly named, so the next vendor is not guessing.

Applied to something real

Signage, packaging or a storefront, so you see it in the world and not on a moodboard.

How it goes

Four steps.

Step 01
Brief
A call, the constraints, the budget. You leave knowing the scope and the number.
Step 02
Direction
Real routes, not mood boards. You pick one and we commit to it.
Step 03
Build
Design and production in the same hands, so nothing gets lost in a handoff.
Step 04
Launch
Files, logins and print specs handed over. It ships, or it is not done.

FAQ

Questions we get asked.

What does branding cost?

An identity system for a local business usually runs $2,500 to $7,500 depending on how much has to be applied: a single storefront is not a multi-location rollout with vehicle wraps and packaging.

Can you just do a logo?

We can, and we will usually tell you not to. A logo with no palette, type or rules gets used inconsistently within a month and you end up paying twice.

Do you handle the signage and printing too?

Yes. We specify and project manage signage, print and packaging with vendors we work with here in the Twin Cities, so the brand survives the trip from screen to storefront.

What if I already have a logo I like?

Then we keep it. Plenty of this work is building the system that was never built around a mark that is already fine.

Also

Usually alongside.

06 Print Posters, flyers, labels and dielines. Press-ready files with correct bleeds and a spec sheet your printer can follow. 05 Signage and menus The physical build-out: digital menu boards, signage, interiors, merchandise and packaging, and the vendors who make them. 01 Web design Marketing sites, ecommerce and landing pages, designed from a blank page and built by hand.

Brand identity, then.

Tell us what you are opening, launching or fixing. You will get a scope and a number, not a proposal deck.