Brand Development & Creative Direction
Brand development is the work of deciding what a thing looks like, sounds like and stands for, before anyone tries to sell it. Studio UNA builds brand worlds for beauty, fashion and aesthetics — from a name and a feeling to a system somebody else can run.
Why this page works differently
Every other service page proves itself with a number. This one cannot, and pretending otherwise would be worse than admitting it.
So the proof is a different shape — and it is not the finished logo. Anyone can show a finished logo, and a finished logo tells you nothing about whether we could arrive at yours. The proof is the route: what was tried, what was rejected, and why.
That story is too long to tell twice on one page, which is why each build has its own.
The work itself
Ask Sybill
An AI marketing platform that needed a face rather than a logo. We built a character, a tarot system to house her, and a colour architecture that governs three modes instead of picking one.
Naming · identity · illustration system · guidelines
See the full build →Convié
One line on what the problem was and what the brand had to do. Written so it reads as a proposition rather than a description.
Identity · packaging · art direction
See the full build →Everything else
All workMore brand work, each build with its own page. The rail pulls from the Work blog, so the page stays this length whether there are two builds or twenty.
Questions we get asked
How long does a brand build take?
Six to twelve weeks for a full identity, depending on how much of the positioning already exists and how many people need to agree. Naming adds time, because names have to be checked as well as chosen.
What do we actually get at the end?
Working files, a defined palette and type system, and written guidelines detailed enough that another designer can run the brand without calling us. If the guidelines need us to interpret them, they are not finished.
Can you work from an existing identity?
Often the better option. A great deal of brand work is deciding what to keep. Rebuilding from nothing throws away recognition you have already paid for.
How do you handle disagreement about taste?
By arguing about the brief rather than the artwork. Taste arguments are unresolvable; brief arguments are not. If a direction is wrong we say why in terms of what the brand has to do, which is a conversation that can actually be settled.
Do you name brands as well as design them?
Yes, and we would rather name before designing. A name shapes the identity far more than an identity shapes a name.