This theoretical brand for Claire Geller of Kindly, Claire was designed as an exercise to show what it looks like to build a brand that works.

So often, clients come to me excited to share their Pinterest boards or color palettes. But the most successful businesses I work with aren’t built on aesthetics alone.

They’re built with a strong brand foundation.

When your foundation is clear:

People immediately understand “why you”
Content creation gets easier because you know your market and message
Your brand is designed to grow efficiently, not stall out or burn you out

Sounds great in theory… but what does that actually look like in practice?

Here’s a step-by-step look at exactly how I’d build an author’s brand from scratch.

Step 01: Understand Her Vision and Goals

Every brand I design starts with a deep dive interview called the Brand Dig. At its core, I need to understand two questions:

What does this brand need to do for my client’s business?
How can it support their life, not just their work?

In this case, Claire isn’t just an author. She’s a coach and mentor, a Substack writer, and a mother.

Her brand needs to communicate all of that, while also doing the work of building credibility, trust, and connection.

Step 02: Clarify Her Niche & Point of View

Most small business owners don’t struggle to generate ideas. They struggle with focus.

Even though Claire serves multiple segments of her audience and offers different ways to work with her, we focused on identifying the shared themes that unify her brand.

I found these by evaluating what my client is already doing with her clients and content.

What themes does she return to again and again?
Who consistently resonates with her work?
What’s her personal story and how does it relate to her work?

For Claire, we noticed three themes: creativity, identity after motherhood, and work. We identified her niche as mothers who are still listening to the call to create.

Step 03: Define Her Brand Personality

After clarity, we can dig deeper into the creative parts of Claire’s brand like her personality.

In Claire’s writing, tone, and presence, we identified four core traits: nostalgia, femininity, wit, and comfort. Additionally, we wanted Claire’s brand to feel confident and memorable, not too feminine or delicate.

Once personality is defined, visual decisions get easier. I created a mood board and pulled inspiration of typography, photography, color, and illustrations that are all filtered through those traits.

Step 04: Translate Her Mood Board Into a Visual Identity

This is the part where I roll up my sleeves and start creating a confident and memorable brand.

The result is a brand that does the heavy lifting: building credibility, creating clarity, and supporting meaningful growth over time.

The Takeaway

If you loved this behind-the-scenes breakdown and want to see what a similar transformation could look like for your own brand, let’s talk!

Book a fit call and I’ll walk you through my process, then you can decide if I’m the right designer to help you grow intentionally, sustainably, and profitably.