Foundation Sprints
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Brand · 7 of 12

Imagery

How the brand's visuals should feel — the mood, the image and illustration style, and the graphic language around them.

Sounds like what you need?

  • Imagery that's ours instead of stock
  • Decide between photography and illustration
  • Turn the feeling we're after into visuals
  • Settle our logo, colors and type first
  • Visuals ready for an upcoming launch or campaign

What the Brand Sprint looks like

The questions this sprint answers

  • If the brand were a person, how would they speak?
  • What does our mark look like, and does it work small, large, light and dark?
  • What should people feel when they see our visuals?
  • What do we need to launch, and where will people first see us?

Decisions we'll make together

  • How it sounds
  • The line you'll repeat everywhere
  • The look you'll stand behind
  • Your type and color

Week 1 · Get unstuck

  1. MonWorkshop — We confirm the scope, check the foundation, and agree what we're testing and how.
  2. TueExplore — Research, and two or three directions for voice, identity, imagery and marketing assets.
  3. WedExplore — The directions, taken far enough to compare honestly.
  4. ThuShape — The strongest direction, sharpened for the lock.
  5. FriDirection lock — We review the directions together and commit to one.

Week 2 · Get something real

  1. MonMake — The chosen direction, built out.
  2. TueMake — The core of it, made real.
  3. WedRefine — A review together, then the fixes it turns up.
  4. ThuTest — Checked against what we set out to learn, and finished.
  5. FriDelivery — A walkthrough, and everything lands in your Hub.

You leave with: A voice guide · Your tagline and key messages · A logo set · A color palette and type pairing · An image style guide · Reference scenes · Launch assets · Templates to keep shipping with

Every sprint follows this shape; yours is written around your project when you start.

In a real project

Miles

What imagery produced in a real engagement, exactly as the client has it. See the whole Hub

Image style

OptimisticEverydayHand-paintedCalmMid-centuryWarm light

Process

  1. Sketch the scene by hand in pencil. Framing, who is in it and what they are doing are decided here — not by the model.
  2. Give the AI image model the sketch plus the prompt below. It keeps the drawing as its guide and paints over it in the hand-painted, mid-century style.
  3. Check each render against its sketch and the mood words, and re-run or adjust until the scene feels calm and optimistic.

Prompt

Draw this image in a 50s illustration style (although we're aesthetically making retro references make sure all character clothes and styles are 2025 period appropriate) using a tightly controlled, realism-based approach while allowing the painting process to remain visible. Start with the precise pencil drawing you can see in the uploaded image as reference, then build form with opaque paint—traditionally gouache or oil—laying in mid tones first and developing shadows and highlights in deliberate, confident brushstrokes rather than fully blending them away. Use a natural, realistic yet optimistic color palette, avoiding straight black for shadows. Edges can remain softly handled in skin and fabric, but let brush marks describe form and direction, giving surfaces a subtly textured, hand-painted finish, while reserving cleaner, sharper edges and tighter control for focal points so the illustration still reads clearly when reproduced.

Scenes

  • Approaching the high school — safety and normalcy quietly coexist

  • Teen driving with Miles present — there, not dominating the moment

  • Parent handing over the keys — an easy handoff of trust

  • The keys, up close — earned independence

All twelve building blocksNext: Marketing Assets →