Branding Checklist & Companion Guide

When I first wanted to be a branding designer, I had this very clear picture of myself designing from morning to night, 5 days a week. I would be working on logos as I started my morning coffee, colour palettes at lunch and finalised brand files by the evening- then the cycle would repeat every day. I knew client calls would be a part of my work, but I didn’t fully grasp that client communication and collaboration is the foundation of all branding design. It turns out that I’m actually more of a friendly, inquisitive tour guide than a designer. And the work is so much better for it!

Lorem Ipsum can be a beautiful solution in agencies when you are passing design files from one designer to another and need to communicate your vision of the typography quickly. It’s easy to access and gives you an immediate feel of how text would naturally flow. I have great respect for it in these uses, and I do use it in these ways. But I no longer use it in my client work because my clients can find it confusing, and I’m missing an opportunity to connect with them and offer instructive guidance on how I need their final content to be provided. Here’s how I swapped out my Lorem Ipsum usage and turned it into a way to connect and guide my clients through our design work.

With Begin Studio’s six year anniversary around the corner, I wanted to share everything about Begin Studio in a truthful and candid way, and take a bit of space to regroup. For my own reference mostly, but I’m sharing it publicly in case you were curious about my inner thoughts, wanted to find out more about what I do or wanted to create your own intention statements for your business. Think of this as my alternative to goal setting - a space for me to write out who I am, what I do and why I do it and follow that through for the year. To give you some context, it’s an interesting time for me and a good place to regroup. For a range of reasons…

If you are like me and are taking a bit of a slower start to 2026 or find yourself watching the snow outside while you wait for your first bookings - you can get a head start on your website maintenance and go forth into spring knowing that your website is still working for you and looking its best. This blog post focuses on the core areas of messaging, communicating your value, design, SEO and ensuring your site works to bring you clients. I wrote this blog post with Squarespace in mind, as it’s the platform I use and create for my own clients - but you can take these principles into Wordpress, Shopify, Wix and other providers.

It will hopefully come as no surprise to you that although I love my business, love my clients and the work I do, I still need to find motivation on a day to day basis. I believe that our brains are wired to go down the easy path so when I arrive at my desk and write out my daily to-do list, I often choose the tasks that are the easiest to fulfill and the work that I’m enjoying the most first. Then everything else needs a bit of a push.

When I work with clients, there’s always an element of problem solving. We take your brand values, where you want to be and how you want to communicate your business and create a strategy that hits all those notes (and that you love!). In this blog post, I’m sharing all my secrets on how to make your brand more fun, how to make your logos more high end and premium, and lastly how to make sure your brand is as clear as it can possibly be!

Colour is a really satisfying part of the design process, but there’s a lot to consider when choosing your brand’s colour palette. Colour is usually the first thing a viewer notices about your brand so this means your colours need to be reflective of your business and communicate your values quickly. This blog talks about how to choose a colour palette for your business, My formula for choosing perfect, flexible colour palette and where to find inspiration.

• Putting your palette to the test

What do all of these things have in common?

• Increase your client base

• Provide value to your existing customers

• Diversify your reach

• Increase your google search ranking

• Make income through affiliate marketing

It’s really simple and easy to blog on Squarespace, but there are a few things that unless you’ve used it for a while (or watched lots of youtube tutorials) you might not be aware of - and which will make a big difference to your ability to maximise all the benefits of blogging.

These are the things we’re covering today - the things to do before you press publish on your Squarespace blog.

The holiday season always sneaks up on me and this year is no exception. I spend most of November thinking that it’s still September and after nearly 4 years of business, I keep hoping that I’ve learn my lesson but every year I put off my Holiday to-do list until December… So if you’re like me and have left your holiday planning to the last minute (yet again!), here are three ways to prepare your business for the holiday season.

I’m so pleased to share that my design for The Horti House is being featured in the Designrush article “The Best Green Logo Designs”. The Horti House project has been so rewarding and this is just the cherry on top. We worked together on a modern and refined logo mark that combines the imagery of their eco-friendly greenhouses, plants and forward arrow to communicate the speed of their delivery. The brand was then paired with a rich set of colours that would compliment the green of the plants that they sell and be able to be used across all of their marketing materials and assets.