Brand Development

Who are you?

Brand positioning is not just about creating a name or a logo for your business. It's about getting to the heart of what you stand for. Then identifying the values you share with your ideal client. I take the time to develop a deep understanding of my client's businesses, their customers, and market position. I use this backdrop to create a brand identity that truly resonates with your target audience, distinguishing you from your competitors and helping to drive sales and growth.

I have spent my career providing my clients exceptional brand development and design services. I love creating impactful logos, icons, and other graphic elements to best represent your company. With decades of experience in the industry, I have become many of my clients' go-to professional for branding projects big and small.

An Overview of Branding

Here are some of the brands I have developed and maintained as a creative director in my past.

DAILEE HLDG

Dailee Holdings market strategy was to enter into an emerging market, in this case the CBD space and rapidly develop, manufacture, market and sell a variety of goods with a data based and consumer responsive methodology. I was the creative director with Dailee set to launch the concept, and was tasked to develop a wide array of brands for use in consumer packaged goods. with the intention to manufacture products under different brands based on the intended market sector and resulting data.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DAILEE BRAND

Dailee began with a meeting and a pitch deck. During the research and concept stage we needed something quick and simple that conveyed a friendly and personal attitude. As the CBD space was only just taking off, the brand had to teach prospective consumers about the product, but about the market as well. Before it even began, there was a high level of education involved in the brand identity.

00. CBD Daily

The first iteration of the logo was a quick example thrown together for the pitch materials. At the time, the logo was used for example products that the members of the team had only intentions to produce. The hexagon was a key design factor that represented the chemistry and education aspects of the concept.

01. Dailee CBD

The second iteration came about once the seed capital had been raised. The CBD molecule from the previous version remained as that represented the product with a literal visual component. The Name was changed from Daily to Dailee after researching trademarks and discovering the Daily wordmark to be too saturated and difficult to secure. At this time, the purpose of the brand was to sell Dailee branded products.

02. Dailee Holdings

After entering the market, research led to the understanding that Dailee would be a parent brand that facilitated manufacturing of several brands. This allowed for a diversification of products with individualized market strategy based on the product's ICP rather than lumping vastly different products across different market sectors under one roof. This iteration was granted a trademark with the USPTO.

03. Dailee Holdings

Once marketing began, a slight update to the trademark was added. I wanted the D to be more present and active in the design. I also wanted the molecule to remain, but move into the background to highlight the company more. This also allowed for a larger, more gestural appearance over a literal CBD molecule in response to the product line expanding beyond just CBD. With expanding into franchise products, and educational programs, Dailee was no longer just a CBD company.

SUNSHINE & CLEAR SKIES

The Dailee Palette began with a blue sky and cloud image I designed to fill the negative space in the pitch deck. The colors fit well and had a striking appeal, So when I began confirming the assets for delivery, I took the colors from the image and some other images of the California coastline and clear skies and matched the palette to the Marigold color used in the logo.

Color Codes

Real Friendly Gold - rfG - ffcc05

Real Dark Gold - rdG - faac39

Wheels of Steel - woS - 4f5a51

Dark Metal Steel - dmS - 313332

Lights Out Blue - loB - 10113a

Big Sky Blue - bsB - b8ddf5

Pale Sun Ice - psI - eef7f7

Deep Shelf Ice - dsI - c4e5dd

Gradient

Ice Gradient - IG

( psI / dsI ) split 85/15 horizontal / 0˚ angle

GROTESQUE FONTS

I wanted the font to convey a sense of understanding, professionalism, and authority befitting a company that was planning to bravely forge new territory in an emerging space. The education component of the brand needed to be represented with a scholarly feel while also being easy to read knowing that educational materials would need to be designed with lots of long descriptions and research data to parse through.

Brandon Grotesque

(Condensed Medium)

Designed by Hannes von Döhren a well established name in typography, Brandon Grotesque is the perfect combination of professional and stylish that seemed to fit perfectly with the Dailee brand. In earlier iterations I expirimented with the Bebas family, then when I was finalizing the asset folder for the developers I discovered this font and thought it was a prefect proximity to bebas with the right balance of authority and flair fitting of an exciting and educational brand.

the Roboto Family

Roboto is one of the most traditional of the grotesque larger family. It was a perfect fit with Brandon for easy reading in small print.

In the words of it's designer Christian Robertson "Roboto has a dual nature. It has a mechanical skeleton and the forms are largely geometric. At the same time, the font features friendly and open curves. While some grotesks distort their letterforms to force a rigid rhythm, Roboto doesn’t compromise, allowing letters to be settled into their natural width. This makes for a more natural reading rhythm more commonly found in humanist and serif types."

DAILEE COPY

The Dailee copy focused on compliance, education, technology, and was written with a strong sense of authority. It was important to convey the value of these concepts and how that value translates to not only the CPG products, but the franchise and technology product offerings as well.

The compliance aspect was especially important when editing and reviewing the copy. Legal oversight was imperative to delivering the right messaging regarding the products, and maintaining all guidelines related to developing laws rolling out in real time. This also led to a great deal of revision as laws were updated and further clarified.

OUR MISSION

Dailee Holdings™ was formed to develop legally compliant, education driven solutions to problems facing the emerging cannabinoid industry.

A key component to Dailee Holdings™ mission is the curation, and deployment of education driven solutions to problems within the cannabinoid industry. Confusion, misconceptions, fear, and misguided age old ideas around cannabinoids thwart research driven science, case studies, and progress within the cannabinoid industry. Dailee Holdings™ is committed to education driven solutions, programs, and partnerships that promote positive, and legal cannabinoid use.

WHAT IS DAILEE?

Dailee Holdings™ LLC specializes in turn key, compliance driven solutions tailored for the hemp and cannabinoid industry. Incorporated in 2019, Dailee Holdings™ purpose came to life when hemp and cannabinoids, including delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, were removed from the list of Scheduled Drugs under the Controlled Substance Act, with the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill.

STRICT COMPLIANCE

2020 marked a historic year in Franchising when Dailee Holdings™ became the first Federally Compliant CBD Retail Franchisor in the country under the Trademark New RemediesⓇ. Dailee Holdings™ created four Federally Compliant, Turn-Key CBD Retail Models with USPTO approval as a Type 35 Registered Trademark. New RemediesⓇ is the only FTC approved franchise in California, as well as 49 other States and Territories, in addition to being the first, and only FDA compliant franchisor in the industry, after Federal Cannabinoid Legalization.

THE DAILEE HEIRARCHY OF BRANDS

Dailee Holdings was structured to act as the administrator of a manufacturing arm, and the sales and marketing for the franchise product offering. The New Remedies product is the store itself. Franchise sales and operations under the Dailee LLC. Dailee also produced products for 8 CBD brands that were then exclusively sold via a New Remedies retail franchise, a New Remedies digital franchise, or the online store.

THE PRODUCT LINES

Eight brands were chosen with the intention of matching each brand with an ICP and a niche in the CBD market. The major product focus within the legal CBD space are: Oils, Cosmetics, Bath & Beauty, Fitness, and Pet Care. These brands below went through several iterations with amended product lines and updated packaging. The Icons below are the most recent brands used in market.

All 8

All 8 was a men's brand with a focus on fitness. The packaging was black and gold featuring strong bold lines and dramatic contrast.

Chill Berry

Chill berry is cosmetic and skincare brand with a focus on women, primarily young professionals.

Regenera

Regenera is a bath & Beauty brand that began with health oriented shampoos and conditioner. Then later expanded into skincare.

Zerum

Zerum became the name for the Serum line offered by Regenera. In its first iteration it was a unisex fitness and Health brand.

Piccolo Pets

Piccolo was designed as a pet care line featuring pet safe skin and hair products. Then expanded into Pet treats and paw balm.

Compound

Compound was a edible and gummy brand aimed at gamers. The compound brand offered the widest array of cannabinoids.

Nico

Nico was a brand for raw hemp and had began as a cigar brand. Over time as the laws changed, and compliance increased, the brand was dropped.

New Remedies Brand

New Remedies branded products were offered as generic alternatives to the core brands. They also allowed for product testing.

Black & Gold

The name All8 originated from the concept of highlighting the core 8 endocannibinioids. The branding was designed with excellence and performance in mind. The key color is gold, while the secondary contrast is a muted burnt bark tone. The font choices were sharp sans lettering that create bold contrast between the foregound and the background.

Bebas Neue

Bebas has always been a favorite of mine. It has the feel of a newspaper headline, and a bold blocking that allows for a compact title. Bebas has an authorative traditional feel to it, great for educational collateral

Arial

(Narrow)

Arial is one of the lesser used standard font settings in most word processors. I thought Arial would be a great match for the bebas title as it's also a sharp, high contrast sans.

Color Codes

Bright Meri-Gold - bmG - fdbf12

Sunset Coast Gold - scG - f28e48

AM Sunshine Gold - asG - faef60

Deep Mellow Gold - dmG - ffcc07

Burnt Out Brown - boB - 353031

Gradient

Big Gold Gradient - BGG

ef7622 - 0

scG - 10

FEC013 - 55

asG - 100

horizontal / 0˚ angle

CHILLED
BERRY

Chill Berry, originally called Chill Berry Deluxe (CBD) began as a fruit/ berry flavored edible brand aimed at young women looking for a calming CBD product to relieve stress and help with anxiety. As the compliance requirements became more strict, the brand was redesigned to fit with cosmetic and beauty market space. The original designs were more fitting with a candy or desert type of imagery. the redesign updated the templates to target a slightly older more mature audience.

Avenir

Avenir is a formal sans designed with a futuristic shape. the word Avenir means future in french. I found it to be the perfect font set to update the titles when the brand needed a more fashion oriented design after moving from dessert products to makeup products.

Myriad Pro

the Myriad family is another often overlooked font set that comes standard with most word processors. Chosen for it's simple layout and ease of reading, Myriad was the perfect match to Avenir a subdued body text that lets the titles and the bold contrast imagery stand out from the page.

Color Codes

Bold Icy Teal - biT - 1cbcc3

White - W - ffffff

Light Icy Teal - liT - dff1ec

Mild Coral Cream - mcC - fdd29f

Bold Deep Mauve - bdM - b55488

Fancy & Refreshing

Regenera is one of the keystone product brands offered by Dailee. The product line focus is bath and beauty and the key design element is that they product should blend in when stored in a home shower or bath. The brand was oriented to women, but also unisex enough that a man shouldn't feel uncomfortable washing his hair with the Regenera line. As the line developed, and facial serums were added, the Zerum brand was adjusted to represent Regenra's serum line as a sub brand.

Monterey

Monterey is the perfect choice for a women's bath and beauty line. It has exactly enough flair while also beign subdued and relaxing with simple but deliberate flourishes

Futura

(Condensed, Medium)

Futura is one of my favorite sans font families. I've always loved how simple, neat and easy to read it is.

Helvetica

Helvetica saw a massive increase in popularity during the early 2000's. It's clear why that is. It's a great sans font with just the right amount of flourish while remaining easy to read.

Color Codes

Dark Bold Teal - dbT - 2b788a

Real True Teal - rtT - 3fbfc4

Sky Moss Green - smG - e7f2de

Sea Moss Cream - smC - e7dda6

Deep Moss Green - dmG - 96cf9c

the inception of The Inkapp

The InkApp was a very interesting project. From its inception in 2015, I worked directly with the owner to develop the brand across multiple iterations. This was an interesting business to be part of and I am greateful for the experience.

From 2015 onward, the company changed hands several times, with the only original members being myself and the owner. In 2015 the project management moved away from the PR team and a group of tech workers with financial backing took on the project. during this phase, I created the original wireframes and development had begun on the MVP. In 2017, the business changed hands again, when the owner met another tattoo enthusiast while attending a convention, who had much more experience in the marketplace and brought on several of our artist partners to help market the app. I remained on the team as the Creative Director / Lead Ui until 2021. My understanding is that the remaining members dissolved the LLC in early 2023.

From TattooU to the InkApp

The concept, originally called TattooU came from a group I was working with in a PR and marketing capacity during 2014 - 2015. During this time, I worked with the owner to develop the original branding and style guide, I organized several shoots with another member of the team and did all of the retouching and color correction on the resulting photos. a pitch was created, and it was being shopped around at national tattoo conventions.

01. TattooU

Under the leadership of the first group, the app was pitched as TattooU the all in one BPM platform for the Tattoo industry. During this period the CEO was promoting the concept by renting booth space at all major national tattoo conventions. I designed all of the on site collateral including vinyl wall scrolls, fliers, flags, giveaways, and all other materials. Much of the networking that allowed the concept to reach funding and grow was achieved during this stage.

02. the InkApp

In 2017 our group began taking meetings with an associate of Ami James the industry artist featured on the reality show Ink Master. The intended goal was to partner with James and work together to market an industry leading platform in TattooU. After several conversations with members of Ami's team we discovered that his group began promoting their own app called TattooDo. The executive team made the decision that it would be best to distance ourselves from the group, and after extensive trademark research, the name 'the InkApp' was chosen to proceed. into the v1 development.

Deep Green INk

the InkApp palette was focused on the hot pink "pop" color to emphasize important information. The pink was selected to create excitement with a dramatic flair. From there, the other colors had to remain more muted to further highlight the pink. The greens were a great mute color and by adding in some teals and blues, they made a good match when compared to some of the older ink coloration from images of traditional tattoos.

Color Codes

True Black - tB - 000000

Hot Ink Pink - hiP - EE2A58

Gun Metal Grey - gmG - 4F5C5C

Ink Green - diG - 082521

Mid Ink Green - miG - 01524C

Lights Ink Green - liG - 009E93Dark

Flat Mint Green - fmG - A5D49F

Flat Lime Green - flG - D0E5B1

Gradient

Liquid Ink Gradient- LIgr

( psI / dsI ) split 75/25 at multiple angles.

Product

Silver Dun?

In this industry, the cream of the crop so to speak is the silver dun. Breeders go to great lengths to secure bulls that can sire silver dun heifers. Another key factor is the presence of chondrodysplasia gene. All mini highlands are small, but the prize specimens carry the gene.

Hairy Heifer Cattle Co.

Brand Development

Brand Update Completed January 2023

While designing the Hairy Heifer brand, I learned a lot about this niche cattle market. My client Hairy Heifer Cattle Co. specializes in Miniature Highland Cattle. This breed of cow is the size of a large dog. They aren't sold for meat or traditional cattle purposes, but as pets. This niche industry focused on these high end pets and their owners who are ready to pay upwards of 70k for the right genetics.

Branding Hairy Heifer

Overview

When designing the Hairy Heifer brand I had to incorporate all kinds of industry terms and specifications that I as someone who lived in Cities my whole life, had never been introduced to. A great deal of research was involved, from the heirarchy of hair colors, to the sizes of horns, many factors play a part in the value of these cows. My client had been involved in this industry for his entire life and went to great lengths to secure the top genetics in the US.

His premiere bull Leonardo's lineage could be traced back over a hundred years to when the breed was first imported from Scotland. Since registering Leonardo with the Highland cattle associations in the US, he has gotten a great deal of attention in the community, and it could be argued that my client now cares for the top genetics available in the marketplace.

As this industry deals in genetics, there is an expansive variety of outcomes when breeding mini highlands. the breeder's goal is always to produce Silver Dun, but because of recessive traits and lineage, the calves can come out in a variety of colors all with different values and scarcity associated to each. My job was to turn this into a value system and translate the coat colors into digital assets.

Primer

Hair color in Minis

Hairy Heifer Concept Art

the Process

While developing the logo, my client and I went through multiple iterations of design sessions. He wanted it to be perfect and I wanted to meet his expectations. I went into this task with no prior knowledge of the industry, or cattle in general for that matter, and came out of it an expert in Mini Highland marketing. Some key factors indicated by the market research were:

Most Mini Highland buyers are women, ages 35-55
All buyers live in rural areas with lots of land for grazing, and prioritize their space.
There was a surprising amount of crossover with industries that market to women, such as fashion, cosmetics, and interior design, these were all factored into the overall brand design.
This niche industry is primarily sustained by high revenue enthusiasts, as the best cows cost more than most cars.

I wanted the branding to reflect all of these notes and speak to fashion conscious women. The brand & marketing shouldn't feel out of place in a magazine, or cosmetic catalog.

Hairy Heifer final design

The outcome

There were many factors that went into the final design. Something that my research taught me, was that in the cattle industry, most brand icons and logos focus on the head of their breed of cattle in a triangular vertical lock up. Much of the industry uses simple silhouette and a lot of clip art of generic cattle. As Hairy Heifer represents a very niche breed and the very top tier in their industry, the standards would not suffice. We something unique and illustrative, that shows a high level of creativity and detail to set the brand apart from the competitors.

I wanted to use a lot of line variation and gradient to really drive home the Hairy aspect of the cows, while keeping the design neat, clean, and high end.

The final design perfectly displays that the cows are shaggy long haired animals, while also portraying a well groomed lustrious coat. The client was very happy with the outcome, but we weren't done yet. A detailed design like this needs a great deal of testing in different compositions in order to be sure it plays well in the larger marketing assets.

Icon Variants

Best display

After the illustrative logo was approved, now we moved on to the different needs for all the variant types. I began with a one tone color block icon. It became immediately clear that the cows dark eyes would need special attention in order to display best on different mediums.

The first iteration looks great on a light background with the negative space as the highlight. The filled in eyes show up correctly as dark on the tope backdrop.

Icon Variants

Best display

As you can see, the eyes weren't going to work in this first iteration on a dark background. The client wanted to make wine glasses using the branding, and in their test print, they said the eyes look like a "zombie cow"

Removing the eyes

Best display

For the dark backdrop, the reversal of the eye works perfectly. The dark negative space fills in the cow eye, and the positive space is replaced by the highlight.

These look much better, and were added to the brand assets for this display instance.

Text Lockup

Letterhead & Header

Once the icon was completed, next up was the horizontal lockup for branded documents, site navigation, and horizontal banners. The style choice was based on bank gothic, a style that originated in historic western architecture. It was also important to steer away from easy go-to's like what I would call the "Saloon" style that is overly used in country and western type branding. I wanted to represent an air of sophistication in the brand.