Brand Identity Development and Design for a Therapist

Stage 1. Define the target audience

After the initial discovery call and onboarding, I sent the client a detailed questionnaire to begin describing the types of people he's already worked with and who he hopes to attract more consistently. This is also the stage where I get to know more about Chad, the services he offers, and his business goals. A few key questions are highlighted below:

• What does your audience struggle with?

• What is important to your audience? What do they value? Why?

• What does your audience want or need that they don't currently have?

• What is your audience's family situation like? — Are they married, dating, or single? Do they have or want kids?

• What kind of job does your audience have? — Do they enjoy what they do? Are they early in their careers or already at the top?

These question helped us develop an Ideal Client Avatar and foundational marketing plan later on. Defining the target audience helped guide our design decisions and feedback stages throughout the project.

1.1 — Research

While the client completed the questionnaire, I searched and reviewed competitors in his field. At the micro level, I looked for therapists in his area who offer similar services. At the macro level, I reviewed sites like BetterHelp and began to evaluate how they all compare to working with Chad.

We reviewed the completed questionnaire together to ensure a mutual understanding of any terms or language that was used. Next, I synthesized the information to create his ICA profiles, their purchase paths, and identify keywords they may be searching for as they seek out a therapist.

1.2 — Ideal Client Avatars

Stage 2. Ideation & Conceptualization

I referred back to the questionnaire to find the words that were most frequently used while discussing Chad's vision for his brand and business. We wanted the brand to be professional and approachable while evoking empathy, compassion, and hope.

I curated a mood board of images with these words in mind, and I began to extract color samples from the images to see what worked well together.

2.1 — Visual Direction

Blue is a color associated with trust, honesty, and has a professional air to it, while green can symbolize growth, like trees in a calm forest. Orange was added to bring warmth to the palette and symbolize the dawning of a new day, for hope, and new beginnings.

2.2 — Brand Assets Design Exploration

2.3 — Feedback and Refinement

The client was originally interested in a logo depicting a couple or symbols of marriage. I experimented with roses and couples in a mosaic style to symbolize fragmented relationships, but it felt too literal.

After some consideration and communication with the client, we saw the benefits of making a personal brand that can grow with him if his niche or service offers change.

Having a specific image in his logo could limit his brand, especially as he’s just starting out and uncertain of how his business will evolve.

2.4 — Brand Strategy and Brand Concept Presentation

After getting the client's approval on the visual direction, I further refined the color palette, typography selection, and logo concepts. I added all of the information I'd collected so far in to a detailed 20-page Brand Strategy PDF presentation.

This presentation, which I submit with a video walkthrough explaining each page, is meant to showcase everything we've worked on so far that leads up to the final brand concept. At this point, only small refinements are expected before moving on to preparing the final files.

Stage 3. Design Execution and Delivery

• Created Responsive Logo Assets in Adobe Illustrator: I integrated feedback from the client to design and deliver over 50 logo file types for use across various screen sizes, mediums, and light or dark backgrounds.

• Brand Typography: I selected a modern Sans Serif font that was readable and professional. To stay within the client's budget, we used a font from Google Fonts that is licensed under the Open Font License.

3.1 — Brand Guidelines Development

• Deliver a Brand Guidelines document: After the final logo files and all brand assets have been approved, I created a detailed Brand Guidelines document that showcased all of the brand assets in action. It also explained terms the client may not be familiar with, such as primary logo, secondary logo, stacked logo, favicon, brand mark, etc.

• Use clear language in the guide to empower the client after handoff: I wrote concise descriptions of the logos, typography styles, and brand colors to help the client understand in simple language how to best use his brand and maintain consistency. This included briefly explaining color codes (HEX, RGB, CMYK), file types (PNG, JPG, PDF, SVG), and overall best practices about establishing hierarchy with typography, using white space in design, and more.