CratX / Practices / BrandField Guide Part IYour time

We design brands people love, and teams can keep.

Strategy, naming, identity and expression, designed as one system. So your brand says the same thing everywhere it shows up, long after we’ve handed it over.

Fig. 1 Brand systemShown: our own system
CratX
Position

We build what people love, and the business that delivers it.

Voice

Short sentences. Plain words. No borrowed proof.

Colour
Type

General Sans and Inter

Components
Start ↗Brand
A brand is a system, not a logo. Position, voice, colour, type and components, built to work together.Fig. 1

Sound familiar?

Four signs your brand is holding you back.

If one of these is true, people are working harder than they should to understand you. That costs you sales you never see.

People can’t say what you do after visiting your website.

What we do: find the one sentence that’s true, different and easy to repeat.

Your team describes the business five different ways.

What we do: give everyone the same story and the words to tell it.

You’ve outgrown the logo you made at launch.

What we do: evolve what’s working and replace what isn’t, without losing recognition.

Every new campaign looks like a different company.

What we do: build a system with rules your team can follow without us.

What we do

Four services, one system.

Take one or take all four. Each one is built to fit the others, so nothing has to be redone later.

Strategy and positioning

Start here

We work out who you serve, what you promise them and why you’re the one to believe. Interviews with customers and your team, a look at competitors, then a clear position.

You get A positioning statement, your story in three lengths, and the proof points behind it.

Naming and verbal identity

Words

Names for companies, products and features, checked for meaning across the markets you serve. Then the voice that makes everything you write sound like you.

You get A name shortlist with checks, a voice guide, and key messages ready to use.

Visual identity systems

Look

Logo, colour, type, imagery and components, designed together and tested in real use: screens, documents, signs and social posts.

You get A design system with rules, source files and examples your team can use without asking.

Brand expression

Bring it to life

How your brand shows up in the world: campaigns, social, packaging, motion, signage and the look of your digital products. Designed so every touchpoint feels like the same company.

You get Expression guidelines and a launch kit of real assets your team can build on.

How it works

Understand. Shape. Roll out.

Three stages, in order. Each one ends with something you can see, use and approve before we move on.

Understand

What’s true, and what’s different

We listen before we design. Customer and team interviews, a review of how you show up today, and a look at who else your customers consider.

  • You get A clear position and story
  • We need Access to customers and your team
  • You approve The position, before any design

Shape

Make it visible and sayable

We turn the position into a name, a voice and a visual system, and test them on real things: your homepage, a sales deck, a product screen.

  • You get The identity system, tried in use
  • We need Quick feedback at each review
  • You approve The system, before it goes live

Roll out

Put it to work everywhere

We apply the system everywhere it needs to show up, hand over the files and rules, and train the people who will use them.

  • You get Assets, guidelines and training
  • We need The people who will own the brand
  • You approve The handover, item by item

Ways to start

Starter Fixed scope, fixed fee

Brand clarity audit

The fastest way to know what to fix first. We review how you show up today and where your story breaks, then tell you what to do about it.

We look at

  • Your website, product and sales material
  • How your team describes the business
  • What customers say when they explain you
  • Three competitors your customers consider

You get

  • A short report, in plain language
  • The three fixes that matter most
  • A walkthrough call with your team
  • Findings you keep, whether or not you continue

Free tool

Free check CratX Brand

Brand clarity check

Five questions. Answer honestly. Your score updates as you go, and nothing is sent anywhere.

  1. Could a stranger say what you do after five seconds on your website?
  2. Does your team describe the business in the same words?
  3. Is there one thing you’re known for that a competitor can’t easily claim?
  4. Would your logo, website and product screens look like one company side by side?
  5. Could a new designer make something on-brand without asking you?

Results by score, from 0 to 5. Only the matching one is shown to visitors.

  1. Your brand is working against you. People can’t tell what you do or why you.
  2. There is a brand here, but people have to work to find it.
  3. There is a brand here, but people have to work to find it.
  4. A good base with real gaps. The gaps are usually where customers drop off.
  5. Strong. A few fixes would make it unmistakable.
  6. Clear and consistent. Your next step is a system that scales it.

The Brand clarity audit looks at where your story breaks, and what to fix first. See the Brand clarity audit

The Brand clarity audit stress-tests your brand before you grow, and shows where it will crack first. See the Brand clarity audit

What we believe

Brand is a product decision.

How a product looks, sounds and behaves is part of what it does. When brand is decided after the product is built, people feel the seam.

A system outlives a logo.

A logo is one decision. A system is the hundred decisions after it, made the same way by people you will never meet.

Programs with Brand

When brand is part of something bigger.

Most brand work touches the product and the operation behind it. These programs bring the right practices together.

Program P1

Launch

Name, brand, product and the way you deliver it, built together from day one.

Brand, Product, Process

Program P2

Reposition

Say one thing clearly, and own it. So the right people understand you in seconds.

Brand

Program P5

New market

Arrive looking local and running ready, with a product and process built for the new market.

Brand, Product, Process

Brand questions

What people ask about brand work.

Straight answers before the first call.

Do you only do logos?

Scope

No. A logo on its own rarely fixes anything. We start with what you stand for, then make it visible and sayable. If a logo is all you need, we’ll say so and keep it small.

How long does brand work take?

Timing

It depends on scope. An audit is quick. A full identity system takes longer. We agree the timeline in writing before work starts, and keep to it.

Will our team be able to use it without you?

Handover

Yes. That’s the point of a system. You get rules, source files, templates and training, so the brand stays consistent after we leave.

Can you work with the logo we already have?

Existing

Often, yes. If people already recognise it, we keep what works and fix what doesn’t. Throwing away recognition is expensive.

What about websites?

Web

We design how your brand shows up online and work with your web team to bring it to life. If you need to launch fast, our ready-made templates are on the way in Resources.

Who owns the brand at the end?

Ownership

You do: the name, the identity and the files. Our methods and frameworks stay ours, and you’re free to keep using them.

The other two practices

Brand works best with the rest.

One team runs all three practices, so what we promise in your brand is what your product and operation can deliver.

Practice CratX Product

So they keep using you

Visit CratX Product

Practice CratX Process

So you can deliver it

Visit CratX Process

Contact

Tell us where your
brand is stuck.

A short note is enough. We’ll reply promptly with a time to talk.

  • Brand clarity audit
  • Positioning
  • Naming
  • Identity system
  • Brand expression
  • Not sure yet

What’s going on with your brand?

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