MarketingBeginnerPreview
Brand Identity Design
A practical, system-first course on building a complete visual identity from a written strategy. You translate brand personality into a logo suite, colour palette, and type system, then document it all in a brand guide that other people can actually follow.
For new and self-taught designers, founders, and marketers who can use design tools but want a reliable, strategy-led method for building a full visual brand.
Course content
Workbook & downloads
Put the course into practice — a printable workbook plus editable templates you can fill in and reuse.
Preview the workbook
This workbook turns the course into a finished deliverable: a complete brand identity system for a real or invented brand of your choice. Work through one section per module, fill the worksheets with actual decisions and values, and use the templates to capture your strategy, logo specifications, colour palette, and type system in one place. By the end you will have the working documents that feed a brand guidelines deck.
Strategy Before Pixels
Lock the strategic foundation by naming the audience, mapping competitors, and writing the brief that every later design choice answers to.
Worksheet: Brand Strategy Brief
Choose one brand to work on for the whole workbook (real, a rebrand, or invented). Fill every field with specifics, not placeholders. If an answer is generic, push it until it could only describe this brand.
- Brand name
- Target audience (one specific person, with context and needs)
- What the brand offers (functional value)
- What the brand offers (emotional value)
- Positioning statement: For [audience] who [need], [brand] is the [category] that [benefit], unlike [competitor], because [reason]
- Personality attribute 1 (edged, not generic)
- Personality attribute 2
- Personality attribute 3
- Optional attributes 4 and 5
- The one thing the audience should think or feel
Worksheet: Competitor Visual Audit Grid
List five to ten direct competitors plus one or two aspirational brands. Capture each one's visual signals, then identify the crowded cluster and the open territory. Collect logo screenshots into a single board as you go.
- Competitor name
- Logo type (wordmark / lettermark / pictorial / abstract / combination / emblem)
- Dominant colour(s) (approx HEX or name)
- Type style (serif / sans, weight, personality)
- Imagery and mood (two words)
- Overall feeling (two words)
- Most crowded visual cluster across the field
- Open territory this brand can own (one sentence)
Exercise: Sharpen the Personality Words
Generic adjectives give no design direction. Take each of your personality attributes and pressure-test it so it points clearly to type, colour, and logo style.
- For each attribute, is it specific enough that a competitor could not also claim it? If not, rewrite it.
- Name one typeface feel, one colour temperature, and one logo style each attribute suggests.
- Which single attribute is the brand most willing to lead with, even if it alienates some people?
Checklist: Strategy Readiness Check
- I can name one specific audience, not everyone
- My positioning statement names a real point of difference
- My three to five personality attributes are edged, not default adjectives
- I have audited at least five competitors and identified an open territory
- I have one written sentence stating the visual territory this brand will own
- I have written agreement (mine or the client's) on this brief before designing
From Personality to Visual Direction
Translate the brief into something visible and testable: moodboard territories, decision-making design principles, and a chosen logo format.
Exercise: Build Two Moodboard Territories
Create two genuinely different moodboards in Pinterest, Milanote, or Figma, each a different interpretation of the same brief. Every image must express a named attribute. Favour adjacent references (interiors, packaging, editorial, photography) over competitor logos.
- For each board, write a one-line caption naming the feeling and the attributes it serves.
- Which images did you cut because they were merely nice but did not express an attribute?
- If a stakeholder picked the board you personally prefer less, could you still execute it well? Why or why not?
Worksheet: Design Principles Worksheet
Write three to five design principles for this brand. Phrase each as a trade-off that favours one side, so it can settle a real decision later.
- Principle 1 (phrased as a trade-off, e.g. X over Y)
- Principle 2
- Principle 3
- Optional principles 4 and 5
- For each principle, one decision it would settle in a future review
- Chosen visual direction in one sentence: territory, attributes, colour temperature, type feel, imagery style
Worksheet: Logo Format Decision
Choose the logo type before sketching, driven by the name, the audience, and where the logo must work. Justify the choice against real usage.
- Chosen logo type (wordmark / lettermark / pictorial / abstract / combination / emblem)
- Why this type fits the name (length, evocativeness)
- Smallest real context the logo must survive (e.g. 16px favicon, app icon)
- Future flexibility needs (product lines, new channels)
- One-sentence justification: This brand uses a [type] because ...
Checklist: Direction Sign-Off Check
- Every moodboard image maps to a named personality attribute
- I produced at least two distinct visual territories to choose between
- I have one agreed visual direction captured in writing
- I have three to five design principles, each phrased as a trade-off
- I have chosen a logo type and can justify it in one sentence
- My logo type choice accounts for the smallest size it must work at
Building the Logo Suite
Design the logo as a flexible system: diverge on paper, refine in vector, lock the protection rules, and export the full responsive file package.
Exercise: Diverge, Then Refine
Sketch many rough thumbnails on paper before touching software, exploring different concepts rather than variations of one. Shortlist the strongest, then rebuild the chosen mark in Figma, Illustrator, or Affinity Designer.
- How many distinct concepts (not variations) did you sketch before shortlisting?
- Which clichéd or obvious ideas appeared first, and what more distinctive idea surfaced only after?
- For your final mark, write one or two sentences on what it expresses and why it is built that way.
- Where did you adjust geometry optically (trusting the eye over the ruler) rather than mathematically?
Worksheet: Logo Usage Rules Specification
Define the technical rules that let other people use your logo correctly without you present. Test minimum sizes by actually shrinking the mark, not by guessing.
- Clear-space rule (defined relative to a measurement in the mark, e.g. cap height on all sides)
- Minimum size in print (mm)
- Minimum size on screen (px)
- Size threshold at which to switch from full lockup to symbol only
- Misuse rule 1 (e.g. do not stretch)
- Misuse rule 2 (e.g. do not recolour off-palette)
- Misuse rule 3 (e.g. do not place on a clashing background)
- Misuse rule 4 (e.g. do not add effects or rotate)
Worksheet: Responsive Logo Suite Inventory
List every version and file you will ship, then tick formats as you export them. Vectors are the masters; rasters are exported at real sizes. Avoid shipping only a single JPG.
- Primary lockup — produced (Y/N) and formats
- Secondary lockups (horizontal, stacked) — produced and formats
- Standalone symbol — produced and formats
- Monochrome set (full black, full white, reversed) — produced
- Colour variants (on-brand + approved single-colour) — produced
- Vector masters present (SVG for web, EPS or PDF for print)
- Raster exports present (PNG with transparency at common sizes)
- Favicon and app-icon exports (16px, 32px, larger)
Checklist: Logo Suite Stress Test
- The mark reads clearly at 16 pixels
- The mark works flattened to a single solid colour (no gradient dependency)
- The mark works reversed in white on a dark background
- Clear space is defined proportionally so it holds at any scale
- Minimum print and screen sizes are set from real testing
- Do-not misuse examples are documented visually
- Files are organised in labelled folders with predictable names
Colour, Type, and the Brand Guide
Complete the system with an accessible colour palette and a working type scale, then assemble everything into guidelines a team can apply without you.
Worksheet: Brand Colour Palette Specification
Define each colour with a role and full cross-media values. Verify contrast with the WebAIM Contrast Checker or the Stark plugin and record the ratios for pairings you will actually ship.
- Primary colour: role, HEX, RGB, CMYK, Pantone
- Secondary colour(s): role, HEX, RGB, CMYK, Pantone
- Neutrals: roles (text, background, border) with HEX values
- Functional colours: success, warning, error, info with HEX values
- Contrast — body text on its background: measured ratio (target 4.5:1 AA)
- Contrast — white text on primary (button): measured ratio (target 4.5:1)
- Approved accessible pairings list
- Proportion guidance (e.g. roughly 60 / 30 / 10 dominant / secondary / accent)
Worksheet: Brand Typography System
Choose and pair typefaces that express the brief, confirm licensing, and turn them into a documented type scale using a consistent ratio (e.g. 1.25 or 1.333).
- Heading / display typeface and why it fits the attributes
- Body typeface and why it is readable at small sizes
- Contrast and harmony note (why the pairing works)
- Source and licence (Google Fonts / Adobe Fonts / foundry) covering web + print + app
- Type scale ratio chosen
- Sizes and weights: display, H1, H2, H3, body, caption
- Body line height and recommended line length
- Emphasis rules (weight and case, not ad hoc styling)
Exercise: Assemble the Brand Guidelines
Pull strategy, logo, colour, and type into one guidelines document (PDF, slide deck, Figma, or hosted page). Show correct use beside misuse, include real worked applications, and link directly to the asset files.
- Does your guide open with brand essentials so the visual rules have context?
- Have you shown at least one do and one do-not example for the logo and for colour?
- Which real touchpoints did you mock up (business card, social post, web header) rather than showing assets on plain white?
- Could a stranger open your guide, grab the right files, and produce on-brand work without asking you anything?
Checklist: Identity System Completion Check
- Every brand colour has a named role and HEX, RGB, CMYK values
- All shipped text pairings pass WCAG 2.1 AA contrast and the ratios are recorded
- Two complementary typefaces are chosen with licences that cover all needed contexts
- A documented type scale defines sizes, weights, and line heights
- The guidelines cover essentials, logo, colour, type, supporting elements, and applications
- Correct and incorrect use are shown side by side
- The guide links directly to the logo and font files
- The document is versioned and dated
Your Action Plan
- Pick one brand to carry through every step, then write and get sign-off on the one-to-two-page strategy brief.
- Run a competitor visual audit of five to ten brands and write the one sentence naming your open visual territory.
- Build two distinct moodboard territories and secure written agreement on a single visual direction.
- Write three to five trade-off design principles and choose your logo type with a one-sentence justification.
- Sketch many concepts on paper, shortlist the strongest, and refine the chosen mark in a vector tool.
- Define clear space, minimum sizes, and visual misuse examples for the logo.
- Export the full responsive logo suite (primary, secondary, symbol, monochrome) in SVG, EPS or PDF, and PNG.
- Build the colour palette with roles and full cross-media values, then verify every shipped pairing against WCAG 2.1 AA.
- Select and pair two typefaces, confirm licensing, and document a type scale with sizes, weights, and line heights.
- Assemble the brand guidelines document with correct-and-misuse examples and linked assets, then version and date it.
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