Type01
AaLight
AaRegular
AaBold
AaBlack
Type and the scale it lives on
The scale, the tracking, and the sizes it is allowed to be. Your typeface sits here.
BD-0116:9 videoHero loop. An identity in use, not a logo on white. Silent, 8 to 12 seconds1920 x 1080
BrandDesignNew York
Most brand identities look great until somebody has to use one.
BD-01 fills the letterforms above. A procedural stand in runs there now, the real loop swaps in.
The deck is beautiful. The palette is considered. Then the launch video needs a title card and there's no rule for how anything moves. The photographer asks what the brand looks like in a real room and nobody can answer. The site gets built and the type that read perfectly at 200 points falls apart at 16.
We design the brand and then make the first real work with it. So you find all of that out before you launch, not after.
Every project on this page is shown the same way. The system, and the thing it made.
BD-021:1The mark. Lockup on a real surface, not a mockup template2000 x 2000
BD-0316:9A frame from the launch piece, title card visible1920 x 1080
BD-0416:10The site running the same system. Full screen capture2560 x 1600
01 / 03
An identityisn't finisheduntil something'sbeen made with it
Chapter 01
The PDF is the halfway point
Halfway
- StartPositioning
- Where most stopGuidelines, where most brand work stops
- What it is forThe work people see
Most brand work ends at the guidelines. You get a logo suite, a palette, a type scale, a set of rules, and a handoff call. Then the studio moves on and you're the one who has to turn all of it into a campaign.
That's where it usually goes wrong. Not because the design was bad, but because nobody stress-tested it against the work.
Rules written on a page behave differently once there's a person in frame, a room with its own color temperature, a fifteen second cut, and a phone screen. Half the system holds. The other half gets quietly ignored, and within a year the brand on your site and the brand in your social feed are two different brands.
We've spent years making video and photography inside other people's guidelines. We know which rules break the first time you have to use them.
BD-054:5Identity artifact. Printed, pressed or painted, shot as an object2000 x 2500
BD-064:5The same system on a live shoot. Pairs with BD-052000 x 2500
Chapter 02What we do
02
We design the brand and we build the proof
One team from the idea to the thing people see
01
The parts you'd expect
The work covers the parts you'd expect. Positioning and the language that comes with it, the logo and its lockups, color, type, art direction, and the rules that hold it together.
02
Then it keeps going
Then it keeps going. We shoot the first campaign. We build the site. We make the video that carries the new identity into the world.
03
Same hands
All of it by the same people who drew the system, which means the system arrives already knowing how it moves, how it photographs, and how it holds up at the size people will really see it.
04
Or just the identity
You can take just the identity and go. Most brands don't, because the second half is the part that's hard to hire for separately.
What it looks like once it leaves the deck
Signage, a title card, packaging, a set build, a garment and a printed piece, all running one set of rules
BD-074:5Exterior signage carrying the mark, shot on location2000 x 2500
BD-0816:9Title card pulled from the launch piece1920 x 1080
BD-091:1Packaging photographed as a printed object2000 x 2000
BD-103:2Set build. The identity at room scale3000 x 2000
BD-114:5Garment. The mark at wear scale2000 x 2500
BD-125:4Printed piece. Paper stock and ink visible2500 x 2000
BD-1316:10Wayfinding. The type system read at distance2560 x 1600
Identities, and the work made with them
Work
BD-1816:9Lead case. The identity beside the work made with it, in one frame3840 x 2160
Client name
Identity · Film · SiteBD-193:2Second case. Identity plus one made piece3000 x 2000
BD-203:2Third case. Identity plus one made piece3000 x 2000
Why hire a production company to do this
Because the first real test of a brand is a piece of work, and we make those
01
The constraints are in the room
A brand studio hands you a system and hopes it survives. We hand you a system and then prove it, on your real launch, with your real product, in your rooms.
That changes what gets designed. When the same team has to shoot it in six weeks, nobody draws a lockup that can't sit over footage, or picks a type weight that vanishes on a phone, or builds a palette that fights every skin tone in the room.
The constraints are in the room while the decisions get made.
BD-213:2On set. Crew working, brand visible in the frame3000 x 2000
02
Years inside other people's rules
The second reason is that we've been on the other side of this for years. Runway shows at The Plaza and The Pierre. Panel discussions at the United Nations. Work for MTV, the London Stock Exchange Group, and Pirelli. A documentary in Honduras. A flagship opening on Madison Avenue for one of Italy's most iconic luxury houses.
Every one of those meant working inside somebody else's brand rules, at speed, with no room to ask questions. You learn quickly which guidelines were written by people who'd made something and which weren't.
BD-224:5Portrait. A frame from one of the rooms named alongside2000 x 2500
03
Boutique on purpose
And you're not getting handed to a junior team. We're boutique on purpose. The person in the first conversation is the person on the shoot.
The work is reviewed by our team: Tymel, our creative director, our editors, and our video and photo crew.
BD-233:2The team at work. No headshots3000 x 2000
BD-1421:9Full bleed. One frame of the finished identity in the world3360 x 1440
Chapter 03The system
03
What the system holds
Logo and lockups, color across screen and print, type and the scale it lives on, art direction, and motion rules
- 01Type
- 02Color
- 03Logo
- 04Motion
Color02
100
85
65
45
28
08
00
Color across screen and print
Every value checked on screen, in print, and against real skin tones under real light.
Logo03
MARK
MARK
MARK
Logo and lockups
Primary, stacked and single color, with the clearspace rule that keeps all three readable.
Motion04
Motion rules for how the brand behaves
One curve and one set of durations. It is why a title card and a website feel like the same company.
What you walk away with
The system, the files, and work that already exists
- 01Logo suite and lockups
- 02A color system that holds across screen and print
- 03Type and its scale
- 04Art direction for photography and video
- 05Motion rules
- 06The templates your team touches most
You also get the first work already made and ready to go, so launch day isn't the day you start figuring out what the brand looks like in practice.
Everything is yours outright, including working files. No licensing games on your own identity.
BD-263:2The delivered kit. Printed guidelines open on a desk, files visible3000 x 2000
How it works
Five phases, roughly eight to sixteen weeks depending on scope
1 of 5
We start with what's true
Before anything gets drawn, we get clear on what the company is now, which is usually different from what the old brand says it is. That means time with your leadership, a look at what you've been putting out, and a straight read on where you sit next to everyone you compete with.
Short and useful. You won't sit through a workshop.
Two directions, not twelve
We come back with two routes. Both are real, both are ones we'd be happy to build, and each one shows up as more than a logo on white. You'll see it as a frame of video, a photograph, and a screen, because that's where you'll be looking at it for the next five years.
Twelve options isn't generosity, it's a studio hedging. Two means we made a decision and we'll defend it.
Building the system
The chosen route becomes the whole thing. Logo and lockups, color across screen and print, type and the scale it lives on, art direction for photography and video, motion rules for how the brand behaves when it moves, and the layouts your team will use every week.
Proving it on real work
This is the part other studios don't do. We make the first assets. The launch video, the campaign photography, the site, whatever the launch needs.
If something in the system doesn't hold up, we find it here and fix it while it's still cheap.
Handing it over so it survives
You get guidelines written for people who make things, not for a shelf. Real examples, the reasoning behind the rules, and the working files.
Your next photographer, your next agency, and your next hire can all pick it up and stay on brand without calling us.
BD-2416:9A route board. Two directions side by side, each shown as film, photo and screen2400 x 1350
BD-253:2First assets in progress. Grade, layout or shoot day3000 x 2000
Six industries, one moment
BD-274:5Health care. The identity in use in a real room1600 x 2000
Health care
A system the in house comms team can run without us
BD-284:5Finance. The identity in use in a real room1600 x 2000
Finance
Serious without looking like everything else in the category
BD-294:5Technology. The identity in use in a real room1600 x 2000
Technology
One identity that survives the product roadmap
BD-304:5Events. The identity in use in a real room1600 x 2000
Events
A look that reads from the back of the room
BD-314:5Brand activations. The identity in use in a real room1600 x 2000
Brand activations
Built for a space people walk through
BD-324:5Fashion. The identity in use in a real room1600 x 2000
Fashion
A mark that sits beside the clothes and stays quiet
Something changed and the brand didn't keep up
We work across health care, finance, technology, events, brand activations, and fashion. The trigger is almost always the same.
- 01New leadership with a different plan.
- 02A raise, an acquisition, or a merger that left you with two of everything.
- 03A product that outgrew the company it launched under.
- 04A category that moved while you stayed still.
- 05Or a first real identity, because the logo from year one was made in an afternoon and it's been carrying weight it was never built for.
If any of that sounds close, the timing is probably right.
What it costs
Real numbers, because nobody else in this market publishes any
Refresh
You keep the core of what you have. We fix the parts that stopped working, tighten the system, and give you rules you can hand to anyone.
From$6,500
Identity
The full build, positioning through to guidelines, plus the first assets that prove it.
$15,000to$35,000
Launch
The identity plus the campaign that carries it. Video, photography, and the site, all built together.
From$40,000
What moves the number is how much of the system already exists, how many places the brand has to live, and how much work you want made alongside it.
Get a numberQuestions answered
01We already have a logo we like. Can we keep it?
Yes, and often you should. A lot of what feels broken about a brand isn't the mark, it's everything around it. That's what a refresh is for.
02How long does it take?
Eight to sixteen weeks for most projects, depending on how many places the brand has to live and how fast your side can make decisions. Refreshes run shorter.
03Do we have to do the video and photography with you?
No. You can take the identity and hire whoever you want. We think you'll get a better launch if the same team does both, and we'll say so, but it's your call and the guidelines are written to work either way.
04What if we don't know what we want yet?
Good. That's normal, and it's what the first phase is for. Coming in with a fully formed answer usually means you've already narrowed it too early.
05How many rounds of revisions?
We don't count them. We work until it's done, as your partner in making it a success, within reason.
06Who does the work?
We're boutique. Nobody gets passed to a junior team after the pitch.
07Do we own everything?
Yes. Finals, source files, and the working files. Terms are in writing before we start.
08What's the smallest project you'll take?
A refresh at $6,500. Below that you want a freelancer, and we'll tell you that instead of taking the job.
Tell uswhat changed
If the brand stopped matching the company, that's usually the whole brief. Send us where you are and we'll tell you what it would take.
We reply within one business hour on weekdays