What's Included in a
Brand Identity Package?
You'd be amazed how differently two studios can define "brand identity package." One hands you a logo and two colors. Another hands you a system you can run a business on for a decade. Same two words — wildly different value. Here's what a real one includes.
01The short version
A real brand identity package isn't a logo file — it's a toolbox. The logo is one piece of it. The value is everything that makes that logo usable, repeatable, and consistent everywhere your business shows up.
02What you should expect
- A logo system — primary, secondary, and submarks that work tiny and huge
- A color palette with rules — not just hex codes, but which leads, which supports, what works on dark
- A typography system — fonts assigned to specific jobs: headlines, body, the fine print
- Patterns, textures & graphic elements — so new materials always feel on-brand
- Photo & illustration direction — the look your imagery should follow
- Brand voice & messaging basics — how you sound, key phrases, what to avoid
- A brand guide — the document that ties it all together so anyone can use it
- Final files + clear ownership — the formats you need, and the rights to use them
03What cheap packages quietly leave out
The bargain "package" usually skips the strategy, the documented system, the editable files you actually own, and the guidelines. You don't notice what's missing until you try to make something new — a flyer, a label, a booth — and realize you can't, not consistently anyway.
04What we include
Every Chicago Brand Studio package is built as a complete toolbox — all of the above, documented so you and your team can keep building long after we're done. And every package includes something you won't find anywhere else: a printed keepsake brand book with a brand letter written by author Lily Hansen, so your brand's story is captured, not just its colors. Need the website too? That's an add-on, built from the same system so everything matches.
05How to compare two quotes
When you're staring at two prices that look far apart, that one question — logo or system? — explains most of the gap. And usually, most of the future regret.