Howdy fellow business owners! My name is Kelli Matheny, principal and owner of Thankful Friend Design. If you've found yourself here, chances are you are on a journey of identifying who you are in your sphere of influence and finding your unique voice.
Like you, I have gone through a long and arduous journey of starting my own business, and scratching my head on how to represent it authentically, clearly, and confidently.
My hope in working with you is that you can benefit from my own learnings of going through the "discovering your identity process”.
What I've found is this—good brand identity is uncovered, not manufactured.
MY PROCESS01 Let's Orient
Knowing where you are now will help determine how we move forward. Where are at in your business journey? A startup, 5 years in, a veteran? Let’s take the time to identify your current reality so we can map out going forward.
02 Establish Your Why
You're here for a reason. Before we can get to the "what", we need to identify your "why". What's motivating you to build a brand? What motivates you start your own business? While a pretty logo can take you so far, what keeps you resilient for the long haul is holding on to your why. It's ok if that if why changes in the future but let's define what that is now.
03 Remove Roadblocks
What are some things hindering you from being able to authentically express who you are as a business? Where do you feel confident? Where do you feel insecure? What's keeping you from stepping into more than the way you currently see yourself? The lens through which you view yourself will color your view. A good well-defined brand is great, but you fully stepping into that changes the game.
04 Gold Mine
There's a beautiful expression that says "Deep calls to deep". I'm not just a logo designer or someone that makes nice layouts. My goal is to bring forth a true expression of your business and that takes some digging out the gold. Together we will draw out the things most important and integral to you and your business, cutting out what’s necessary and removing any weights that don't need to go with you forward. We will define core values/pillars, mission statement, what you're not, and your tone of voice.
05 Get Building
Every color decision, line mark, typographic choice points back your core. We will not make arbitrary design decisions but ones that are informed and intentional. If we were to use a metaphor, design is the outfitting, your core values are your skeleton, and your mission statement is the heart and soul that beats throughout all touch points of your brand.
06 Walk it Out
Now that we have that walking, talking living and breathing brand identity, it's time to move. I will help you determine your future business goals, aspirations.