How we run an identity engagement in 2026

Identity work has changed shape since I started in this industry. The deliverables are the same — a logo, a typeface, a palette, a guide — but the process around them now spans a much longer arc, with much more text, more research, and more conversation. Here's how a typical engagement runs at the studio in 2026.

We begin with a six-week field phase: interviews, archive review, an audit of every visual artifact the organization currently produces. We do not sketch in this phase. The output is a written brief — usually 18 to 24 pages — that names the constraints, the audiences, and the specific situations the new identity will need to live in.

From there we move into design over roughly four months, in two-week iteration cycles with the client. We work on the whole system in parallel — type, color, layout, motion, photography — instead of locking the mark first. Most projects ship guidelines in month seven and a launch toolkit in month nine. The launch itself is its own three-month operation. There is no shortcut to any of this; the only honest version of the work is the long one.