Design practice

Brand Identity Sprint

Design a complete visual identity system for a fictional brand: strategy, logo, type, color, guidelines

Start the exercise

01 / Prepare

What you’ll
work on.

Create a complete visual identity for a fictional brand, working through the full process: strategy definition, visual identity design, and guidelines documentation. This is the capstone exercise for the Brand Design path and produces portfolio-ready work.

Before you begin

  • Familiarity with brand strategy, typography, color, and visual identity systems
  • Figma and/or Illustrator proficiency
  • Understanding of brand strategy frameworks (Kapferer, Aaker, archetypes)

02 / Practice

The work,
step by step.

Work through these 3 parts at your own pace. Keep your notes and work together so you can review them when you finish.

  1. Define the Brand

    3–4 hours

    1. Choose a fictional company — Pick an industry you find interesting. Define: what they do (product/service), who they serve (target audience, 2–3 personas), why they exist (mission, purpose), where they sit in the market (positioning: premium vs. accessible, innovative vs. traditional)

    2. Apply a strategy framework: Complete a Kapferer Brand Identity Prism (all 6 facets), define the primary and secondary brand archetype (from the 12), write 3–5 brand attributes on spectrums (e.g., "Playful <-> Serious"), draft a positioning statement (target, category, point of difference, reason to believe)

    3. Run a mini competitive audit: Identify 3–5 fictional or real competitors, analyze their visual language (color, type, imagery style), plot a perceptual map with two relevant axes, identify the visual whitespace your brand can own

  2. Design the Visual Identity

    5–6 hours

    1. Logo system: Explore 15–20 logo concepts (sketches, not polished), refine 3 directions to digital, select and polish one direction into a full logo system (primary logo, secondary arrangement, brandmark, wordmark, clear space rules and minimum size, color variations: full color, monochrome, reversed)

    2. Typography: Select a primary typeface (headlines) and secondary (body), define a type scale with 6–8 sizes, show hierarchy in use (heading + subheading + body + caption)

    3. Color palette: Define primary (1–2 colors), secondary (2–3), neutral, semantic. Specify in HEX, RGB, and HSL. Verify contrast ratios (WCAG AA for text combinations)

    4. Supporting elements: Imagery direction (2–3 mood board examples with photography guidelines), iconography style (show 4–6 sample icons on a consistent grid), layout grid and spacing principles

  3. Document as Guidelines

    3–4 hours

    1. Create a brand guidelines document (Figma or PDF) with: brand overview (mission, personality, positioning), logo usage (all versions, clear space, do/don't), color system (full palette with specs), typography (typefaces, scale, hierarchy), imagery (direction with examples), layout (grid, spacing)

    2. Include do/don't examples for at least logo, color, and typography

    3. Show 2–3 application mockups (business card, social media, web header, or app screen)

03 / Review

Look at what
you’ve made.

Gather your deliverables, then use the criteria to find what worked and what you would change. They also give a peer something specific to respond to.

What to bring together

  • Brand strategy document (Kapferer Prism, archetype, attributes, positioning)
  • Competitive audit with perceptual map
  • Logo explorations (15–20 sketches, 3 refined, 1 final system)
  • Type selection with scale
  • Color palette with specifications and contrast verification
  • Imagery and iconography direction
  • Brand guidelines document (8–12 pages with do/don't examples)
  • 2–3 application mockups

How to assess your work

Strategy grounding
Visual decisions are traceable to strategy (archetype, attributes, positioning)
Logo quality
Versatile, works at small sizes, systematic (not just one mark)
Systematic color
Structured palette, not random — with contrast verified
Typography
Intentional pairing, clear hierarchy, appropriate for the brand personality
Guidelines clarity
Another designer could create on-brand work from these guidelines
Application
Mockups demonstrate the system working in real contexts

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