Foundation Sprints
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Brand · 5 of 12

Voice

How it talks: the tone, the message, and the words it uses about itself.

Sounds like what you need?

  • One way the whole team explains it
  • A line that sticks
  • Settle on the name
  • Sharpen what makes us different
  • Make our look and our words feel like one brand

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

Voice guide

  • Calm, not alarmist

    Say what happened and what to do; never raise the temperature.

    Do · Hard stop on Elm St this afternoon. Worth a quick chat?

    Don't · WARNING: Harsh braking event detected!

  • Plainspoken, not technical

    No specs in the copy. The car's data is ours to translate.

    Do · The battery's getting low — worth a check this week.

    Don't · OBD-II PID 0x42 below threshold.

  • Riding shotgun, not watching

    A fair, private helper in the passenger seat — never a scorekeeper.

    Do · Here's how this week's drives went.

    Don't · 3 violations logged this week.

Message hierarchy

  1. Teen driving isn't about control — it's about confidence.
  2. Miles coaches, it doesn't punish.
  3. Knowing what's going on can be calm and simple.

Taglines

  • “Miles is riding shotgun.”

Key copy

Starter — a draft to fill in during the sprint, not a delivered decision.

Hero: Teen driving isn't about control — it's about confidence.

Subhead: Miles rides shotgun with your new driver, and tells you what matters — calmly.

Parent CTA: Set up Miles together

Teen-facing line: Proof you've got this.

Trip summary pattern: [What happened] · [Where] · [One thing worth talking about]

Empty state: No trips yet. Miles will be quiet until there's something worth saying.

Words we use / avoid

Use: trips, drives, heads-up, worth a chat, looking out, together, confidence.

Avoid: violations, events, alerts (as a noun for the teen's behavior), score, monitor, track, catch, warning.

From the workshop: the anti-associations were "companion" and "assistant" — Miles is an expert in the passenger seat, not a pet or a butler.

All twelve building blocksNext: Identity →