How We Build a Brand: Don Macos, Step by Step

A logo on its own is not a brand. A brand is the logo, the colours, the voice and every place a customer meets you: the sign over the door, the bag in their hand, the post in their feed. Here is how we build one, step by step, using our work for Don Macos, a pizza and grill restaurant.

1. Start with the customer, not the logo

Before we draw anything, we agree on three things with the client: who the customer is, where they will meet the brand first, and what they should feel. For Don Macos the answers were simple. Families and young people, mostly through the shop front and delivery, and the feeling should be fun, hungry and generous.

2. Draw the wordmark

We sketch many directions and keep the few that pass one test: can you read it in one second, from across the street and on a phone screen? For Don Macos we chose a chunky, playful wordmark that feels like melted cheese and a big bite.

3. Choose colours that work everywhere

Colours carry a brand further than the logo does. We picked tomato red and cheese yellow: both are food colours, both stand out on a busy street, and the logo works on either one.

4. Test it on real things

A logo that looks good on a white page can fail on a lit sign or a greasy paper bag. So we place it on the real items the business will use: the shop sign, takeaway bags, cups, burger boxes and fries packs. Anything that does not read well gets fixed now, not after printing.

5. Hand over a kit the team can use

The last step is a simple kit: the logo in every version (colour, white, single colour), the colour codes, the fonts and the packaging files. The client's printer, social media team and sign maker can all work from the same files, so the brand looks the same everywhere.

See more brands we built

The same steps sit behind every identity in our portfolio, from food brands like Chicken House and Cello to State Properties and Revora Motors. Browse them all on our Work page, or tell us about your brand.