If you’re like many of our clients, you’re considering working with a professional brand designer for the first time. 

This is an exciting step for your business and brand, but it can come with a little uncertainty when you’re hiring a brand designer for the first time or if you’ve had a less than desirable experience with a designer before. 

This post will walk you step-by-step through the process of working with the brand design team at Hola Luz so you feel more confident and excited about working with us to build a brand that celebrates your cultura and shines a brighter light on what you do best.

Questions about hiring a brand designer

You’ve known your brand needs some attention for a while. But every time you start thinking about working with a brand designer, you get stuck in all your ‘what if’ questions. 

Having questions doesn’t mean you’re not ready to hire. It’s a good sign that you take your brand seriously and want to make the right investment at the right time. 

Some of the most common questions our clients are asking right before they decide to work with us include:

• What if I waste my hard-earned money?
• What should I expect my brand designer to do? 
• What if I don’t know enough about design to give useful feedback?
• What if I invest… and nothing changes?
• What if there’s nothing special to set me apart from other brands? 

These are meaningful questions. So let’s talk about exactly what it looks like to hire a brand designer and provide meaningful answers to your questions! 

What does a brand designer do? 

On the surface, all brand designers create visual branding assets for a business. 

You can typically expect the following to be included in most standard brand design packages:

• Main logo
• Color palette
• Font selection

There are brand designers who create pretty brands. And then there are brand designers who build strategy-first brands that work for your business, tell your story, and amplify your brand (while also looking great!). 

At Hola Luz, we don’t design pretty brands. We build brands from a strong, strategic foundation that put you in a category of one. 

Our design process is highly collaborative. We ask tough questions so we can deeply understand your why, your people, your vision, and your mission. At times, the brand design process can feel almost therapeutic, because we dig in deep. 

And our brand packages deliver a lot more than simply a logo, colors, and fonts. 

What is the brand design process?

Understanding the brand design process is one of the best ways to find the right brand designer for your business. 

If you want to work with an experienced designer who grounds their designs in strategy and prioritizes telling your story and highlighting your unique perspective and experience, here are a few red flags to pay attention to:

• There’s no strategy call or opportunity to share your story
• The design process doesn’t include meaningful feedback or room for edits
• They only focus on the cost of the investment without sharing about the ROI you can expect 
• They don’t have a design portfolio or examples of their work 

Now that you know what not to look for, let’s dive into the Hola Luz brand design process and discover all the green flags that you’re in the right place!

Step 1: Inquiry and connection call

We always start the brand design process with a connection call. 

This call is the best way to:

• Get to know each other 
• Understand your business goals
• Hear more about your mission and vision
• See how we can best support you 

You should expect an initial call to include questions about what you’re dealing with in business right now, how you want to grow, and what your timeline looks like. 

You should know if the designer is a good fit after your discovery call. 

Green flags to look for:

• They offer you the right services for what you need. (Red flag: Only recommending the most expensive option, even if it doesn’t match your needs.)
• They seriously assess if you’re ready for the services you’re looking for. (Red flag: Selling immediately without confirming you’re ready to go all in.) 
• The designer offers alternative solutions or resources if something else makes more sense for your goals, business, budget, or needs. (Red flag: Insisting on one service or shutting down the conversation if you decline the service they suggested.) 

To prepare for a successful discovery or connection call, make sure to know your budget, timeline, what you’re struggling with, and where you want to take your business.

Step 2: Onboarding and brand discovery

Once we’re officially working together, the first thing you’ll do is fill out an extensive, intentional brand questionnaire. 

Many designers, especially strategic brand designers, ask multi-layered questions in order to get to the heart of your brand. 

You can expect a brand questionnaire to include questions about your:

• Purpose
• Values
• Unique approach
• Brand voice
• Passion
• Goals
• Unicorn clients
• Vision

At Hola Luz, we always include a strategy session. This is the most important part of the entire brand design process. 

The strategy session allows us to hear and experience your brand voice and values in action while we nail down the ingredients of your specific secret sauce. We really only spend the last five minutes or so talking about colors and visuals, because your brand is so grounded in what makes your brand stand out and the unique perspective you bring to your work. 

At this stage of the process, we’re focused on the foundations of the brand we will build. There will be design concepts and moodboards soon, but taking our time in the strategy phase ensures the success of everything we design. 

Step 3: Design concepts and feedback  

Once our strategy is clear, we move into design. 

Your brand designer should present mood boards, color palettes, fonts, and concepts in a design presentation. This presentation gives context to the visual elements, so you can see how your brand looks and feels as whole. 

You don’t have to be a design expert to give helpful feedback. Avoid sharing vague things like, “Can you make it punchier?” or “I want it to pop more.” It’s hard to execute feedback like this. 

Instead, focus on specific feedback like, “I prefer a less bold font,” or “This feels too busy. Can we simplify?” 

Pinpointing what you don’t like or what you want more of will help your designer make the changes you want to see. If you don’t know how to describe what you want to change, talk to your designer about it and see if they can ask questions that lead you in the right direction. 

After you review your design presentation, it’s common to have revisions. This is typically one main round with a follow-up round for refinements and polishing final designs. 

But what if you hate the first concept? Don’t freak out! Talk to your designer about what’s not resonating and why. Sometimes your designer can see something in you that you’re afraid to embrace (maybe you’re bolder or more high-end than you think?). 

But sometimes the first concept simply doesn’t hit the mark… and that’s okay. Figure out what you don’t like, share more of what you do like, and give clear feedback. Trust the process and work with your designer. You’ll end up with a brand you love! 

Step 4: Delivery, final files, and what’s next

You should always work with a brand designer who does more than simply share your downloadable files and peace out. 

At Hola Luz, we deliver a full brand package with clearly labeled folders, explanations of how to use each of your brand assets, and access to everything you’ll need to put your brand to work across different platforms. 

Our Full Brand package includes:

• Brand Messaging Guide (Mission, Visions, Values, Positioning Statement, Elevator Pitch, Target Audience Description)
• Mood Board
• Color Palette
• Main Logo
• 3 Alternate Logo
• 2 Submarks
• 20 Canva Templates
• Business Card Design
• Email Signature
• Thank You Post Card
• Social Media Launch Graphics
• Creative Direction Deck for Brand Photography

Brand guidelines are an important part of the brand delivery. These guidelines tell you the size each logo should be used at, how to avoid bad cropping, how specific colors and fonts should be paired together, and all the “do’s and don’ts” of using your brand in the real world. This helps you look like a professional! 

You’ll receive different types of files, so make sure your brand designer clearly explains when to use a PNG vs. a SVG and why it matters. 

Successful offboarding, like what you’ll experience at Hola Luz, sets you up for success and helps you confidently launch your brand.

How much does brand design cost? 

This is the first question many business owners ask when thinking about working with a professional brand designer. And we hear you.

Brand design can range in price depending on the experience of the designer, the process they follow, and what’s included in the brand design package. 

At Hola Luz, our brand packages fall into three ranges:

• A mini brand is a great starting place for new businesses, and this typically starts at $2600
• A full brand, which includes everything listed in the section above, gives you a seriously comprehensive brand tool kit and starts at $4200.
• Many brand designers also include the option to begin with brand design and then move into custom website design. Our full brand + website design package starts at $8500. 

Finding a brand designer who offers services within your budget is important. It’s also crucial that you consider the cost of not investing. 

A strategy-first brand is the key to charging premium prices, standing out in a saturated market, and building the confidence to consistently market your business. Every day you don’t invest in a brand that works for you is another day you leave potential clients, money, and impact on the table. 

A brand isn’t a luxury. It’s necessary to grow your business and succeed in an increasingly tough economy. Most brand designers offer flexible payment plans to allow you to budget for this crucial business expense.

Are you ready to invest in professional brand design?

Now that you understand the brand design process (and what we do at Hola Luz), it’s time to decide if you’re ready for this step in your business. 

When you’re ready for a professional design, you’ll probably find that you are:

• Attracting clients, but not the clients you want to work with
• Embarrassed to send people to your website 
• Outgrowing your DIY era 

If you’re still in the stage of business where you’re figuring out your offers, changing up your business model, and not sure where you want to take your business, now probably isn’t the right time to invest in a custom brand. 

Our experienced team at Hola Luz is ready to walk you through the design process and work with you to build a brand that highlights the best of what you do, who you are, and why your work matters. 
You can click here to fill out an inquiry form or book a free connection call today!

Key takeaways

• There’s a big difference in a pretty logo and a strategy-first brand. 
• Asking questions about what a brand designer does and how the process works is the first step in the brand design process. 
• Red flags that a brand designer may not be a good fit include pushing their most expensive option, not taking the time to get to know you and your story, and focusing only on price instead of the benefits or ROI. 
• A connection or discovery call is a good way to make sure you and a brand designer are a good fit and to figure out what specific services you need. 
• An effective onboarding process includes an extensive questionnaire and strategy session with your designer. 
• Brand design should always include space for revisions. 
• The best feedback on your brand design is clear, specific, and direct. 
• A brand designer should deliver your files in an organized way that includes brand guidelines to show you how to use (and not use!) your brand assets. 
• Investing in a professional brand is a business expense, not a luxury purchase.