Brand Identity Design
Good businesses don't always have good branding
43˚ North Design helps small and midsize businesses build brand identities that better reflect the work behind them. Based in Brookfield, I work with businesses throughout the greater Milwaukee area and beyond.
Sometimes the business has grown, but the branding never grew with it. Other times, things were created one piece at a time. A brochure here. A social graphic there. Maybe the logo has been around for years. Eventually, none of it feels like it came from the same business.
The goal isn’t to redesign everything just to make it look new.
It’s to figure out what isn’t working, what still has value, and what people need to see more clearly. Then build a visual identity that fits the business you’ve already put the work into.
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Good brand identity design brings your logo, color palette, typography, and visual rules into one working system. The point isn't to make a thick, bloated set of brand guidelines nobody uses. It's to give your business a clear look and the exact structural assets you need to stay consistent everywhere you show up.
Typical Deliverables:
Primary and secondary logo marks
Brand color palette with CMYK, RGB and HEX values
Typography hierarchy
Supporting visual elements
Guidelines for using the identity consistently
Logo files prepared for print and digital use
See brand identity work for Milestone Pediatrics, Harvest Moon, Plain & Simple Foods, and R&R Shamion Trucking.
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This is a good fit for businesses just getting started that need a strong, original mark to build around. It also works perfectly for a strategic "refresh"—when your existing mark has equity and is still right for the business, but needs logo vectorization, better balance, or a modernized direction without losing its character.
Everything is built with real uses in mind.
Typical Deliverables:
Scalable vector artwork
Full-color, black and reversed versions
Print-ready EPS and PDF files
Digital SVG, PNG and JPG files
Appropriate color variations for the project
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This is where the brand actually gets used. Business cards, brochures, sell sheets, signage, vehicle wraps, and event materials all need to be clear and easy to work with. I design each piece around the information it has to carry, not just the way it looks on a digital mockup. Because of my background in high-volume production, you are guaranteed print-ready design files built correctly the first time.
Applications Include:
Brochures and sales collateral
Sell sheets and presentations
Business cards and stationery
Advertising and promotional materials
Signage and large-format graphics
Fleet and vehicle graphics
Trade show and event materials
Other print and digital business communications
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I design branded social graphics for announcements, promotions, events, and everyday posts. This is graphic design, not account management. I handle the visual side, delivering a flexible system of templates so your content looks like it came from the same business every single time.
Promotional graphics
Event announcements
Branded post templates
Sales and product graphics
Story graphics
Reusable social media layouts
See how Bedford Hills Barbell used social graphics to boost their presence.
My Process
Good design starts with understanding what actually needs to be solved.
The process is straightforward. We talk about the business, agree on what needs to be done, work through the design together, and finish with files that are ready to use.
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We’ll begin with a complimentary 15-minute call. Nothing formal.
We’ll talk about what you’re working on, what’s already in place and where things are getting stuck. You don’t need to come into that conversation knowing whether you need a new logo, a brand refresh or something bigger.
That first conversation helps me understand the problem before we start talking about the solution.
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Once I understand what you need, I’ll put together a proposal and Statement of Work that lays everything out—scope, timing, investment, deliverables and the number of refinements included.
For brand identity and logo projects, I’ll also gather the information I need to understand the business, the audience, the competition and what the identity needs to accomplish.
The point is to get clear before the design starts. It saves time later and gives us something better than personal preference to measure the work against.
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Then I get to work.
I’ll sort through what we’ve discussed, pull out what matters and start building the direction from there. The goal isn’t to decorate the business or chase whatever happens to be current. Every decision should have a reason for being there.
When the work is ready, I’ll walk you through it in a presentation. You’ll see what I designed, why I made those choices and how the direction connects back to the problem we started with.
You’re not just handed a logo and asked what you think.
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Good feedback is part of the process.
We’ll talk through the work together, look at what’s working and identify anything that needs more attention. Then I’ll make the refinements included in the project.
The goal isn’t to keep changing things until we run out of things to change. It’s to strengthen the direction and solve the problem we agreed to solve.
Sometimes that means a small adjustment. Sometimes a little more work is needed. Either way, the decisions stay connected to the business—not change for the sake of change.
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Once everything is approved, I’ll prepare the final files and formats included in your Statement of Work.
Everything will be organized, clearly labeled and ready for the uses we planned for. For logo and brand identity projects, I’ll also make sure you know which files are meant for print, digital and other common applications.
No digging through a folder wondering which logo to send to the printer.
The project may be finished, but the work should be easy to keep using once it leaves my hands.
Have a Project in Mind?
You don’t need to know exactly what you need before getting in touch. Tell me what you’re working on, what isn’t working or what you’re trying to get off the ground.
We’ll start there.
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Yes. I design versatile logo suites as well as systems that are part of a larger brand identity. We can figure out which approach makes sense for the business.
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A logo is one part of the picture. A brand identity looks at the whole system—logo, color, type, imagery and how everything works together across the places your business shows up. Sometimes a logo is enough. Sometimes the bigger problem is consistency. We can figure that out before deciding what needs to be designed.
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Absolutely. Starting over isn’t always the answer. If the logo still fits the business, we may be able to refine it, vectorize it, clean it up or build a stronger visual system around it. The goal is to fix what isn’t working without changing things just for the sake of changing them.
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Timing depends on the size of the project and what’s involved. A logo project will usually move differently than a full brand identity or a design project with several pieces. Once we’ve worked out the scope, your Statement of Work will include a project timeline so you know what to expect. That timeline assumes feedback, approvals and any needed materials stay on schedule.
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Yes. You don’t need to come in knowing whether you need a new logo, a brand refresh or simply better materials. That’s part of the conversation. We’ll look at what you have, where the trouble spots are and what would actually help the business move forward.
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The exact files depend on the project and will be listed in your Statement of Work. For logo projects, that commonly includes formats such as EPS, SVG, PNG and JPG, along with the appropriate color versions for print and digital use. I’ll also make sure you know which files to use where. Editable source or native working files aren’t included unless they’re specifically listed as part of the project.
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No. My focus is brand identity, logo design, business collateral, advertising design, and social graphics.
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43˚ North Design is based in Brookfield, Wisconsin, and I work with businesses throughout the greater Milwaukee area as well as clients outside the state. Most projects can be handled easily by phone, email and video meetings, so location usually isn’t much of an obstacle.