Stage 2: Brand and Guidelines

Stage 2: Building your brand and guidelines

Turning strategy into a brand you can use

Once your company identity is clear, the next step is translating that thinking into how your brand looks, feels, and behaves. This is where your business begins to show up consistently across every touchpoint. Online, in print, across social channels, and in the hands of anyone representing your brand.

Stage 2 focuses on turning the clarity from Stage 1 into a usable, scalable visual identity. One that not only looks good, but works hard for your business and can be confidently shared with collaborators, designers, marketers, and internal teams as you grow.

Why branding and guidelines matter

First impressions matter. Long before someone reads about your services or gets in touch, they experience your brand visually. If what they see does not align with your values, positioning, or message, it creates friction and uncertainty.

This stage brings consistency and confidence. It helps your business look credible, feel intentional, and offer a clearer experience to your audience. A well-crafted brand builds trust, recognition, and familiarity, especially as your business becomes more visible.

Strong brand guidelines also bring cohesion to areas that are often overlooked. From email footers and automated workflows to newsletters, lead magnets, internal documents, and printed materials. Your guidelines provide a clear framework so your brand shows up consistently across the board.

Who this stage is for

Stage 2 is designed for businesses that are ready to move beyond scattered visuals and guesswork.

It works particularly well for:

• Growing businesses and SMEs refining their brand

• Established companies preparing for a refresh or rebrand

• Teams who need consistency across designers, platforms, and channels

• Businesses tired of reinventing the wheel every time something needs designing

If we have already worked together in Stage 1, this process becomes far more efficient. The strategic groundwork is already in place, allowing us to focus on translating that clarity into a strong, cohesive visual system.

How we work

We begin with a detailed visual and brand-focused Q&A that builds on your company identity. This helps us understand how your brand needs to feel, how it should show up, and how it needs to function in the real world.

Using this foundation, we design a complete visual identity and brand guidelines document. This work is not just about aesthetics. It is about clarity, consistency, and delegation, giving you a brand that others can work with confidently without diluting it.

Here is what this stage includes:

Visual identity design

We develop your core visual system, including colour palettes, typography combinations, logo usage, layout rules, and image direction. Every decision is made with intention, ensuring your visuals support your positioning and messaging.

Mockups and real-world examples

You will see how your brand works across key materials such as social posts, website elements, and marketing content. Rather than producing endless templates, we focus on creating a flexible foundation that can be applied consistently across your business.

Brand guidelines handover

You will receive a clear, easy-to-use Brand Guidelines document. This can be shared internally or externally and becomes the reference point for anyone creating content, designing assets, or representing your business.

This ensures your brand not only sounds consistent, but looks consistent too.

Example in practice

When CoWorking Devon went through a rebrand, this stage played a key role in bringing clarity and cohesion to a growing business.

We refined typography combinations, colour choices, photography direction, and layout consistency, ensuring the visual identity reflected the energy, community, and professionalism of the space. The brand was then applied across social content, marketing materials, and signage, with each element tested and refined in context.

The result was a practical, polished brand kit that now guides everything from Instagram stories to printed materials, making the brand easy to maintain and scale.

The outcome

By the end of Stage 2, your brand visuals are ready to be put to work. You will have a cohesive visual identity that can be confidently applied across your website, email automations, booking pages, lead magnets, and future marketing activity.

With clear guidelines in place, your business is ready to move into Stage 3. This is where we bring everything together through a structured digital presence, designing and building a website that connects your services with the right people and supports your next phase of growth.

Ready to continue the journey?

f you have already completed Stage 1, or have a clear company identity in place, and are ready to bring your brand to life visually and create consistency across everything you do, we would love to explore whether Stage 2 is the right next step.

Head to the Contact page to start the conversation.