A very common question I get asked is: “I already have a brand/I’ve already invested in my branding, can you just build a website for us?”

I don’t necessarily suggest not asking this question but 97% of the time the answer is no, unfortunately, we’d have to create the brand AND the website for you.

Now listen, before you huff and puff and get frustrated, I understand where you’re coming from. Maybe you thought this brand investment was going to last you forever (FYI: design investments should be ever-going in your business to reflect your growth and to look up-to-date, otherwise you’re doing yourself a huge disservice.) Maybe you really like your current branding and aren’t ready to part ways with it (or maybe you haven’t seen just what we can do for you ;))

Oftentimes, we don’t accept branding done by another designer or design agency for the following reasons:

• The style is too outdated or overused and the website we build for you with that style will do you more of a disservice than you think and just won’t meet our standards.

This is a common one. Especially because trends are constantly changing and everyone wants to adapt. Your brand can become easily overused or outdated, which is why it’s important to keep up with your design investments. Even when you invest with us, it probably won’t be the last design investment ever, but our goal is to make it pretty long-lasting. As you grow + scale, it’s natural to want a brand that reflects that.

• Your designer wasn’t clear on a creative direction.

Most of the time, designers will deliver brand guidelines with your branding investment (or they should.) However, many of them don’t clarify how the branding should be used and executed creatively or consistently. This is a big reason why you may have invested in branding, but are still failing at executing it beautifully. It’s not your fault. You just weren’t given guidance in that area. When we design your brand during our process, we give you 3 clear creative directions to execute and follow. This is what we’ll use when we continue to build your website and what we recommend you follow any time you want to design something using your branding so that you are consistent and aesthetically cohesive. If you struggle with brand upkeep and just want it done for you, you can also hire us to be your in-house design agency.

• There is missing material that we need.

This happens when the package you’ve invested in doesn’t include all the things we’d need to build your website. There are font files to be allocated, logo files that aren’t clear, and probably no brand guidelines. Whether this is your previous designer’s fault, or maybe you just DIY-ed and tried to get away with it (sneaky sneaky), we’ll see right through the situation and won’t approve the material.

• It just doesn’t look as good as you think.

Sorry but this is true. The very last resort is that the brand just simply doesn’t look good and doesn’t match our style or meet our standard, so it becomes very hard to try to design with. Even if you love it as much as you think you do, ask yourself if you’re allowing yourself to reach your full potential. Ask yourself if you love the entire brand or parts of it. This is why our branding process takes into consideration so many things including your design preferences, likes and dislikes so we can build a brand that’s perfect for you. If you truly aren’t willing to be flexible and try something new, then maybe we aren’t the agency for you!