SASHA BIRUKOFF

SASHA

BIRUKOFF

SASHA BIRUKOFF

HOW I DESIGN

HOW I DESIGN

FOR VISIONARY TECH STARTUPS

FOR VISIONARY TECH STARTUPS

4 min read

I know it can feel scary to send thousands of dollars to someone without knowing exactly what will happen over the next few weeks

Especially with creative work, where the process usually feels mysterious and chaotic 

So let me explain what working with me on a branding project will be like in 4 steps:

INTRO

Hop on a 15 minute one-on-one call with me so I can understand your company, and your design needs

There are usually 4 cases from here:

Your design is fine as it is

Your budget is too low or too high for this project, and I’ll help you adjust it

I’m not the best fit for the project, and I’ll refer you to another amazing designer that I know

We’re a match, and we can start as soon as the next day

Regardless, I want to help you make the best decision after this call

RESEARCH

Before starting any design work, I always do deep research on your company, competitors, issues, and solutions

Skipping this step is like trying to construct a skyscraper without a blueprint

How this phase goes:

1. You answer ~15 customized questions to help me (and hopefully you) understand your company better

2. I provide a 1-2 page write-up of my design solution for your brand. This includes a visual direction moodboard, my reasoning behind what color palette will work best, what type of font to use, etc.

3. You look over the write-up and confirm or give feedback. We make sure we’re both 100% on the same page and that I don’t have any confusion about your project and target audience

Once the write up is confirmed, I start designing

DESIGN

This is where things get exciting

1. I’ll start with the design of the black and white logo

- I believe all logos should look good in black and white. Otherwise they won’t work well on certain applications like print and clothing

- Here I iterate on every possible solution I can think of. Making the logo thicker or thinner, wider or narrower, smaller or bigger, rounder or sharper, etc

- Sometime this can mean hundreds of iterations before arriving at the final mark

2. I then add colors and typography to the mix and make everything work seamlessly together.

3. I compare all the possibilities i’ve created and decide on the option that fits your brand best. Making sure the brand looks good on social media, clothing, posters, etc.

Once I’m finished, I prepare to present it to you and your team

PRESENTATION & DELIVERY

Hop on a call to see the final identity

Together we’ll go over the many iterations I went through, which ones I had to remove, and my decisions behind every single detail

After receiving the final payment I send you all the files you need, in all formats that you might need

WHAT ARE The final deliverables i'll receive?

Typically these are the deliverables at the end of a usual brand project from me:

- Logo mark
- Color palette
- Paid or open source fonts
- Guidelines for how to use the branding
- Templates for social media posts and pitch deck slides
- (Landing page design maybe?)
- Figma file with all of the above
- Dropbox folder with all of the above

how does communication work?

We’ll do 3 calls total:
- Intro call (15 min)
- Research call (1 hour)
- Final Presentation (1 hour)

The rest of the time will be spent designing your brands new identity

how does pricing work?

I’ve worked on projects anywhere from 5k to 50k. I’ll let you know what you should do depending on your budget.

do you offer revisions or refunds?

To paraphrase Paul Rand, one of the worlds most famous brand designers (designed the logos for IBM, UPS, ABC, NeXT):

You are not obligated to use the designs I provide you. But ultimately they are the final solution I can provide for your specific brand, and your specific audience

Any revisions will be done together in the research call, anything else is taking away from my expertise to design for you. You can change it yourself after receiving the final designs.

I don’t offer revisions or refunds.