Branding starts before any drawing does. The first questions are what the business sells, who buys it, and what the other companies in the same market look like. DCM works through those first, because a logo drawn without that is only a drawing.

The logo comes next, either a new one or a refresh of the logo the business already has. It arrives with the positioning behind it, and the strategy that comes with it is built around the business, its market, and the customers it wants to reach.

Then the brand has to travel. It goes on the menus, the business cards, and the brochures a customer holds, and on the site and the social profiles a customer checks first. The same look in all of those places is the whole point. Somebody who sees the menu, then the site, then a post on Instagram should meet one company three times instead of three companies once.

The last part is time. Brand work DCM did years ago still defines how those businesses look today, long after the project ended, and that is the real test of whether it was built right.