Most small businesses don't set out to have a messy brand. It happens gradually. A logo made quickly when you started. A different green on the van because the sign maker guessed. Polo shirts from one supplier, business cards from another, a website that doesn't quite match either.

None of it feels important on its own. Together, it costs more than most owners realise.

Reprints and redos

Without clear guidelines, every supplier has to guess. They pick the colour that looks closest, use whichever version of the logo you emailed last, and work from a low-quality file. When it comes back wrong, you either live with it or pay to do it again. Uniforms, signage and van livery aren't cheap to redo.

Your time

Every new job with a printer or embroiderer turns into a back and forth. Which logo? What colour code? Have you got a better file? Each one only takes a few emails, but over a year it adds up to hours of your time on something that should take minutes.

The work you don't win

This is the biggest cost, and the hardest to see. When a business looks inconsistent, it looks smaller and less established than it really is. That matters most when you're going after bigger clients or contracts, where the people deciding have never met you. A brand that looks the same everywhere tells them you're organised and here to stay, before they've read a word.

A thorough and detailed collection of artwork, colour codes and fonts has made working with printers a breeze, whilst keeping the branding consistent.Adam O'Sullivan, Sullivan Solutions

What sorts it out

  • One logo, in every version you need. Full, simple and icon versions, in the right colours, so there's always one that fits.
  • Set colours and fonts. With the exact print and screen values written down, so every supplier gets it right first time.
  • Simple guidelines. A short guide to using the brand, written so printers, embroiderers and sign makers can follow it.
  • Organised files. Named clearly, in the formats suppliers ask for, with a note on which one to send to whom.

That's what I put together for Sullivan Solutions, from the logo through to their vans and uniforms. If your brand has grown in bits and pieces, I can pull it together into one clear identity and give you everything you need to keep it consistent. Book a call and we'll start with what you've already got.