Brand Identity Design
From brief to a system a client can actually run without you
Created by Marcus Bell
What you will learn
- Run a brief and research phase that constrains the design usefully
- Develop a mark through iteration rather than waiting for inspiration
- Build the wider system — type, colour, layout, photography, tone
- Present work so the strongest route is the one chosen
- Produce guidelines a non-designer can follow
- Price and scope an identity project
Course content
13 sections · 92 lectures · 14h total length
- What this course covers, and what it does notPreview04:00
- How to get the most out of itPreview04:00
- Setting up and downloading the exercise files06:00
- Briefs and discoveryPreview08:00
- Briefs and discovery in detail04:00
- A closer look at briefs and discovery04:00
- Worked example: briefs and discovery13:00
- Where briefs and discovery goes wrong13:00
- Exercise: briefs and discovery09:00
- Briefs and discovery in practice10:00
- Two approaches to briefs and discovery05:00
Topics covered
Requirements
- Working knowledge of a vector tool such as Illustrator or Figma
- Some visual design experience
Description
A logo is the smallest part of an identity and the part clients fixate on. This course walks a full project from brief to handover, including the awkward middle: research, the presentation that sells the idea, and the guidelines that stop it drifting.
Your instructor
Brand designer and illustrator
Marcus runs a two-person studio and has designed identities for everything from a cider brewery to a hospital trust. His teaching is heavy on process and light on trend.
Learner reviews
- 5 star64%
- 4 star28%
- 3 star5%
- 2 star2%
- 1 star1%
- PBPetra B.24 January 2026
Good balance between theory and doing. I would have liked a couple more exercises, but that is a small complaint.
- TWTariq W.3 October 2025
I came in knowing a bit and still learned plenty. The middle third is the strongest part.
- OFOlive F.4 July 2025
Clear explanations without the usual filler. I watched most of it at 1.25x and still followed everything.
- COCarla O.28 December 2025
I have recommended this to two colleagues already. The structure makes it easy to dip back into.
- GBGrace B.30 September 2025
Concise and honest about what it does not cover, which I appreciated.
- TMTariq M.8 August 2025
I came in knowing a bit and still learned plenty. The middle third is the strongest part.
- ASAisha S.1 December 2025
Very practical. I applied something from module four at work the same week.
- ATAisha T.2 August 2025
Decent. I would have liked downloadable summaries for each section.
- OLOlive L.31 December 2025
Good balance between theory and doing. I would have liked a couple more exercises, but that is a small complaint.
Showing 9 of 1,204 reviews.
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