Logo design and branding are two essential elements (among many others) of creating a successful, long-lasting business. They work together to help you stand out from the crowd, connect with your customers, and tell your story. Let’s get into it.

In its purest form, a logo is a visual symbol that represents your business.

Here are a few examples:

Like in these examples, a great logo communicates a distinct brand identity and should be instantly recognizable and memorable.

Every business should have a logo. More than just a graphic, a well-designed logo creates a lasting impression. It’s a visual connection point that unifies all aspects of your business, from your website to your social media to your packaging.

A quality logo tells your customers that you care about your image and that you have high standards for your work. It should convey some sense of your business’s values and personality to your customers.

A good logo design makes you look professional, trustworthy, and reliable.

It also makes you look cool (cool is good!).

A logo is “just” a symbol, but branding goes much deeper. Branding is all about how your business is perceived and is connected to everything your business does—from how you answer the phone and what kind of cardstock your business card is printed on, to the pricing strategy for your products and services.

Branding is all about creating an emotional connection with your customers and making them fall in love with you. It’s everything that shapes your image and reputation, such as your name, colors, fonts, tone of voice, values, mission, and vision. When people think of your business, they think of your brand—it is that important.

To sum it up: branding is way more than just a cool logo.

Building a brand is not something that happens overnight. It’s a process that requires strategy, creativity, and consistency. As a business owner, it’s up to you to take an active role in shaping your brand and the perception your audience has of you—but don’t stress too hard, we’re here to help.

Whether you realize it or not, your business already has a brand. The question is: does it reflect who you are? Does it resonate with your target audience? Are you happy with it?

If not, then you need to invest in a brand identity—an ideological foundation for your business and a set of visual assets and resources that help you create a consistent and distinctive image for your brand over and over again.

Beyond a clear and compelling Brand Story, which defines your mission, vision, core values, culture and purpose, it includes distinctive visual elements such as a killer logo, color palette, typography, style guides, and marketing materials. A well-made and complete brand will help you communicate your values, personality, and story to your audience—which is key to winning over their hearts and minds.

To make sure the job gets done right, many businesses choose to work with a branding company like Steady Studio. We help you discover your core emotional truths, craft a compelling story, define your values and what you stand for, and design a visual identity that captures the essence of your business. When you work with Steady, we also make sure that you have fun along the way!

When we say a logo is “just” a symbol, that’s not to say it isn’t important. In fact it is so important, many companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on design and research, just to make sure it’s just right.

Your logo is a crucial part of your brand. It’s what people will see and remember when they interact with your business. It’s what will appear on your website, social media, flyers, and more.

When people see your logo, they should instantly associate it with the positive feelings and experiences they have with your brand. If you have a great logo, it will help you convey your brand identity and stand out from the crowd.

Your brand is the emotional connection that your audience has with your business.

Your logo is the visual cue that triggers that connection.

Both your logo and your brand need to be aligned and consistent.

Your logo is an essential piece of the jigsaw puzzle that makes up your complete brand. One just isn’t complete without the other.

A logo is a symbol that represents your business. A brand is the stories and ideas that define your business.

A logo makes you look good. Branding makes your audience feel good.

A logo helps your people recognize you. Branding helps your people remember you.

Pricing can be a touchy subject, especially in the realm of subjective creativity.

Our clients understand they need branding services to clarify their brand story and uplevel their visual design, but how to get what they need in a cost-effective way can remain a mystery!

Some clients may email a wish list of deliverables and cross their fingers that the estimated price works for them. Unfortunately, this often results in sticker shock and the project getting stuck at the proposal phase—AKA going nowhere. Sometimes these clients bite the bullet and push ahead anyway; while they are always happy with the outcome, they can’t shake the feeling they might have paid too much.

Other clients want to grind through a detailed proposal and search for opportunities to “trim the fat,” often leaving designers with insufficient hours to deliver on expectations. Sure, the price was right, but the outcomes fell short of the ideal and, in the end, no one was happy.

So, how do we turn lose-lose situations into win-win situations? The answer, as always, starts with communication.

Every client has different needs, and every project has a unique set of challenges and choices to make.

How much it costs depends a lot on where your project is at. Do you have an awe-inspiring elevator pitch, but not much else? Or do you have a comprehensive brief and vetted content ready to go?

Your answers will affect our fees. We believe in being transparent about the investment you’re making, and our goal is to ensure that you feel confident about what you need from the beginning.

We’ve created this blog to help you get a feel for the level of support your project requires, which in turn will reflect the projected investment.

Let’s jump in!

After working on hundreds of projects over the years, we have found that multi-tiered pricing provides the least friction and most clarity for our clients.

Our three basic service levels reflect the amount of support and resources needed per project to make it a success.

So, does your project need minimal thought and strategy, or does it require a high degree of ideation and creativity? Our fees will depend on where your project falls on this spectrum.

You have a specific brief and the graphic assets, all the edited text, photography, and files are ready to go. You only need help bringing it all together professionally for production.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Can I verbalize a crystal clear vision and goals for this project?
• Have I documented exactly what I want in an easy-to-understand brief?
• Have I managed all aspects of planning and strategy, leaving nothing to interpretation?
• Have I properly organized all the required assets and file types and are they ready for sending?

If you’ve answered “yes” to three or more questions, you’re likely a good candidate for minimal development support. We’re here as your creative execution partner to make sure that your deliverables deliver.

You have a clear idea for your project and probably have most of the text and images you need, but you are not sure how to bring it all together and make it really sing!

Questions to ask yourself:

• Do I understand my goals for this project but need help filling in the gaps?
• Do I have a clear-ish vision of what I’m looking for but want an expert to manage the overall look and feel?
• Do I have most of the brand assets ready to go?
• Do I feel comfortable trusting a design team to bring my project to life, even if I’m not totally sure about what I want?

If you’ve answered “yes” to three or more questions, it sounds like you could benefit from standard support. We’re here to take your vision and run with it, exceeding your expectations for what you thought was possible.

You have a great idea but no text, copy, photos, or graphics at all and need help coming up with a plan to follow through with the writing, image sourcing, and graphic design.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Do I need help compiling or creating my brand assets in multiple file types?
• Do I need to coordinate high-resolution photography for this project?
• Do I need help managing the written content?
• Do I need support in coming up with a clear call-to-action (CTA)?

If you have answered “yes” to three or more of these questions, it is likely that you will require premium support. We’re here to make sure that your project gets what it needs in order to be successful. With premium service, it is normal to anticipate longer turnaround times and a higher initial investment.

We recently received the following message from a prospective client:

This is a question we receive often, and we understand where it’s coming from. With so many competing priorities for a business owner’s time, attention, and resources, it can be difficult to feel 100% confident in an investment where results aren’t guaranteed.

The true value of branding tends to be somewhat subjective and abstract. Nonetheless, we’ve developed a strong opinion about the value of a well-crafted brand over the course of working on hundreds of client projects.

In this blog, we’ll describe the tangible and intangible benefits of investing in a compelling brand identity for your business.

In order to understand the value of something, first you need to know what it is.

There are plenty of places to get a quick logo or a nice colour palette for your business. But branding runs much deeper than this.

At Steady Studio, we define your brand as how others perceive you. Branding, therefore, is the process of aligning what you want others to think about your business with what they ACTUALLY think about your business.

If you don’t take control of how your brand is perceived, you risk allowing others to define your brand for you. Investing in a well-defined and inspiring brand identity means actively shaping the narrative. In turn, a strong brand helps you cut through the noise of a busy marketplace to position your business in the best possible light.

It’s our core service and lives at the heart of everything we do.

Before delving into the concrete outcomes you can expect from investing in a brand identity, it’s essential to explore the intangible benefits of branding — the invaluable things that are hard to assign a dollar value to but play a pivotal role in your success. We affectionately refer to these as the ‘5 C’s.’ Let’s take a closer look.

The Steady Process will help you develop and strengthen your knowledge of “self” — AKA your business. What follows is greater clarity surrounding what makes your business uniquely valuable and desirable. This includes your mission, vision, and values, which can and should be used to guide business decision making.

When you feel confident in what you’re doing — including who you serve and why/how you serve them — it’s much easier to build a strong network of clients or customers, strategic referral partners, vendors, and industry peers. If relationships are currency, then confidence is the key to the vault.

When you have a consistent look and feel across all channels, the outcome is a memorable brand that your audience can trust. Inconsistent visuals can cause confusion about whether or not your company is reputable or if it’s even the same company. A properly realized brand identity provides a cohesive and professional look.

A compelling brand creates a genuine sense of connection with your target audience. When your ideal clients feel connected to your brand, they’re more likely to take action — e.g. signing up for your offer, making a purchase, or recommending your services. Branding helps you build trust and demonstrate value to your audience.

Credibility is crucial for businesses, especially in crowded markets. When your audience trusts you, they’re more likely to choose your business over competitors and refer others. Though credibility isn’t just about looks, good branding can help maintain it. Your brand IS your reputation, in turn preserving trust and maintaining strong connections.

There are so many external factors that can impact the effectiveness of branding. That’s why we don’t make any guarantees or bold claims like, “for every dollar spent with Steady Studio, you’ll make five dollars on the other side.”

Instead, the intended outcomes are intimately connected to your goals for the process. Being specific with your goals will help you know if you’ve achieved them. In other words, we have to answer the following question: What is the problem we are trying to solve?

It’s like the adage: Give a person a fish, they eat for a day. Teach them to fish, and they eat for a lifetime.

Going through our process will educate you about your own brand so you have a better sense of whether you’re “on brand” or not. As a result, you’ll make fewer misguided mistakes that disrupt trust and credibility and ultimately hurt your reputation.

Imagine your brand, authentically aligned with your mission and vision, clearly communicating what you do and why it matters. Imagine being seen and deeply understood by the right kind of clients. What impact would that have on your business?

We’ve helped hundreds of clients unlock the potential of their brand by following the Steady Process to predictably stellar results.

After working with us, our clients experience the following:

• Near immediate increase in engagement and sales thanks to elevated graphic design and emotionally resonant storytelling
• Increased brand credibility and loyalty, which leads to repeat business from satisfied clients AKA brand advocates (increase in average lifetime value of these clients)
• Uptick in warm referrals from strategic partners and industry peers
• Increased personal confidence in their brand
• Enhanced ability to clearly communicate their unique value proposition or elevator pitch
• Decrease in mistakes because they better understand who they are as a business (and who they are not, thereby “staying in their lane”)

One client described our process as “a gateway to scaling and growing.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

Note: Several different KPIs can measure success, but they are only helpful if you have been recording the metrics for some time before implementing a new or updated brand. This includes sales of course, but also foot traffic, web traffic, search volume, social impressions, new followers, organic/unpaid mentions in local media, and so on. Being specific about your goals at the outset of will help you understand which KPIs make sense to track in order to measure ROI.

To the question, “How will I know it’s working?”, here is our answer:

You’ll know it’s working when sales start to trend upward, your foot traffic increases, more people start following you on social media, and more people comment to let you know how much they love your branding! You’ll also feel an increased sense of clarity and confidence that ripples out into all other areas of your business.

So yes, investing in a compelling brand identity holds immense value for your business. While tangible outcomes are often the focal point of discussion, the intangible benefits of branding are arguably more important to understanding the lifetime return on investment. While there are no guarantees, our branding process aims to empower clients by equipping them with the tools to create a lasting impact.

Nowadays, most companies and organizations aim to have authentic branding that resonates with their audiences. With authenticity often thrown around here and there, how can you know if it’s genuine or not? Here at Steady Studio, we make sure to iron out a brand’s identity — define its message and clarify its story — to allow its truest voices to come to light.

Thirsty for a good beer? We have one that you need to try. Steady Studio recently had the honour of celebrating our wonderful little neighbourhood of Austin Heights by designing a beer label for a local brewery.

The time has come to hire someone for your branding, graphic design, or website. Every business will get to this point where it makes sense to take the next step and hire a professional to develop your brand.

Oftentimes businesses only ever consider a freelancer or a big, fancy marketing agency. But, there’s this secret third option… one that might be perfect for your business!

In this article, we’ll talk about the small but mighty boutique studio that could make all the difference when it comes to your digital needs. We’ll share some of the biggest myths when it comes to hiring marketing agencies and branding studios and we’ll spill the tea. Well, actually the truth. We’ll spill the truth. No beverages were harmed in the writing of this article.

Here are 5 common myths that we hear often and shake our heads at regularly.

Do you know those words that people use interchangeably but mean completely different things? Evoke vs invoke, effect vs affect, advice vs advise…just to name a few!

In our industry, we find this happens a lot with copywriting vs content writing. A lot of professional writers don’t even know the difference. Luckily for you, we’re coming to the rescue and you’ll never use the words incorrectly again.

Why does colour matter in logo design and branding? We are surrounded by colours. Everywhere we go, our bodies have learned to decide things based on the colours that are around us — like understanding that green means go. With the world being this kaleidoscope of colour, it only makes sense that they matter in business too.

Why Colours Matter in Logo Design and Branding

Did you know that a certain colour can make a person buy a product or turn their nose up at it (resulting in a funny face and no sale…)?

Creating your brand colours is a big job and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Colours help shape your logo and are something that customers pay great attention to.

It’s time to turn the kaleidoscope and get a reading on what colours mean when it comes to logo design.

There’s a general perception that logo design and branding are the same thing. But, we’re here to share the truth… they’re not!

Having a logo designed and building a brand are two separate things, and when brought together, create what your company is looking for. A compelling way to stand out from the competition, and be remembered for who you are and what you offer.

In this article, we discuss the difference between a logo design and branding. And, why it’s important that you invest in both.

Before we dive deep into this article, let us introduce ourselves! We’re Steady Studio. We are a boutique branding studio that specializes in branding, graphic design, and websites. We focus on the core emotional truths of your business, develop a compelling story and create a visual identity (more on that below!) that helps your business stand out from the competition in the eyes of your target market. All in all, we know a thing or three about logo design and branding.

A logo is a symbol. It is the visual representation of your business and what you stand for. It’s essentially a visual shorthand that represents who you are and creates the opportunity for people to recognize your company while out and about.
Think about it for a minute.

When you hear the names of some of the biggest companies in the world, like: Apple, Microsoft, Toyota, Twitter, Lululemon, Nike, chances are you were able to picture the logo in your head…

That’s the magic of a strong logo design, paired with a compelling brand story.

Every business has a logo, or at least they should! It is a memorable image that reminds  customers of your company, it’s a connection point. Your company’s logo helps to consistently unify  all parts of the company together in a cohesive way. From your Facebook page to your Instagram profile. When customers see your logo, they will know they’re at the right place.

A well designed logo will show customers that your company has high expectations, you’re professional and care about your own image. These traits will then encourage leads to become customers.

A good logo design represents a sense of pride and it allows people to see your company as trustworthy and reliable. Also, one they may want to show off and be proud to sport on their clothing or vehicle to show they align with your business and ideals.

A brand is the emotionally compelling story of a business. It’s the idea or the “image” they see in their mind when they think of your company. This happens when a person experiences and remembers all of the parts of your company. The name, logo, marketing campaigns, experiences they’ve had as a customer, among other things.

The brand is all about the feelings and story behind a company.

Whether you know it or not, if you own a business, you already have a brand. As a business owner it is your decision whether or not you take an active role in shaping that brand and managing the perceptions of your audience. Or you can sit back and passively surrender control of how your business is perceived to others.

Spoiler alert: We believe you should play an active role in shaping your brand.

When you decide to invest in a brand identity, you’re choosing to take ownership of your brand and how your business is perceived. To create an emotionally resonant story. You’re showing the world that you are ready to go from do-it-yourself pretender to all-star professional contender. During this process, you will work with a branding company, like Steady Studio, to determine what your brand identity is and what you want to portray.

Your brand is the collective impression of the public touchpoints of your business. Your logo is just one component of that – it’s a very important component – but it is not the whole picture.

Your logo is the thing that most people will see and remember. It will be the piece of your company that will be on most, if not all, of your touchpoints with customers. From digital marketing to your new brochure.

Your brand exists as the sum total of your audience’s perceptions. Your logo represents your brand.

So, they have to go together! People will be able to instantly connect with your company when they see your logo. If done correctly, they will associate it with the positive thoughts and feelings they have about your business. If you have a great logo, it will ideally transport the person to feel and connect with the brand identity your company has created and worked so hard on.

Whether you’ve just launched your business, or you’ve been killing it for a while, it can be hard to decide when to hire a branding studio. There will come a time in your company’s lifetime that you’ll eventually come to a fork in the road.

You’ll either go left, which is for your friend who *knows* graphic design to do your branding. Or, you’ll go right, and put your branding in the hands of a professional who really knows what they’re doing.

So, which way is the right way, right now, for you? In this article, we’re sharing the 4 ways to tell when it’s time to bring in the big guns.

One of the best ways to know whether it’s time to hire a branding studio is whether or not you have the cash money.

If you have the budget, and are ready for a progression within your company, hire a branding studio! If you are just starting out and don’t have the budget, put the money where it needs to go. But, don’t sleep on professional branding forever. Begin to set aside money for branding purposes in the future.

In saying all of this, we want to be clear, hiring a branding studio will not only give you a professional brand, it will also save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

Say, you don’t have the budget, so you launch your business with a makeshift logo. In a year, you realize that it’s not really working for you, but you don’t hire a branding studio again, you get a friend to design it. Then, a couple of years later, you realize that you shouldn’t have gone down that route. Now you’ve wasted time and money and years when it comes to growing your brand. Don’t be that business.

So, what we’re trying to tell you is, it’s probably, most likely, time to hire a branding studio.

Here’s the thing… when you try to DIY a logo or website yourself, you’re going to feel that overwhelming feeling. You know the one we’re talking about. It’s not going to be easy peasy lemon-squeezy. It’s going to be stressed depressed lemon zest.

If you’ve been trying to learn all the design programs and you have a logo, but it’s not quite where you want it to be… Or, you’ve had a friend of a friend try to make one for you, but there’s something missing from it…

This is your second sign that it’s time to hire a branding studio.

A branding studio will take your story, brand, how you want people to feel when they associate with your company, and create a masterpiece.

We promise you that Vincent Van Gogh would approve. If he was alive and cared about websites and logos and branding that is.

*Sigh of relief*

Excuse our french, but the third way to tell it’s time to invest in a branding studio is when you don’t have your sh*t together. You know you need all of these different things, but you don’t know where to start. It goes hand-in-hand with the point above of feeling overwhelmed.

You may have the perfect idea but are lacking the small details that will propel your business forward. This is okay, this is why we’re here! When you work with a branding studio, we are able to ask the tough questions and get you thinking about your company and where you want to be.

With our questions and your thoughtful answers, we will help your sh*t shine.

Have you ever considered the correlation between big brands and premium costs? It’s because they’ve done the work to become well-known, their name and branding is thought of as trusted sources and they know their worth.

Having professionally-designed branding will take you from where you are to where you want to be.

Are you ready to say goodbye to those DIY prices that come with a DIY brand?

This is what we like to hear! Even if you’ve tried a higher price point in the past and weren’t able to convert, doesn’t mean that will happen again.

When people see a professional, clean brand that tells a story, it grabs them and pulls them in. Compared to if they see a DIY logo that isn’t in the right format on your website and looks can we say… cheap. That will have them running.

Hiring a branding studio will provide you a level-up.

Level up your branding.
Level up your website.
Level up your digital presence.
Level up your pricing.
Level up your confidence in your company.

And we could go on and on about all the levels you’ll achieve, but we have to save something for when we work together!