We’ve worked with so many incredible businesses over the years to help their brands feel cohesive, elevated, and aligned. And one of the most common questions we get is:

“What does the process actually look like?”

If you’ve been curious about what it’s like to work with Venlo Studio, this blog will walk you through it step-by-step. We’ll use the rebrand we completed for Close with Cait as a real-life example so you can see how it all comes together.

Let’s dive in.

Step 1: Inquiry & Getting the Big Picture

Every project starts the same way: with your inquiry.

Once you fill out our contact form, we send over our full pricing guide. Inside, you’ll find:

Our three branding packages
Add-on options
Investment details
Plenty of real client examples to spark ideas for your own transformation

This is where you begin to envision what’s possible.

Our process depends slightly on which package you select (Brand Refresh, Brand Essentials, or Brand Launch), and each has a different turnaround time. Here are some sample timelines for each package so you can see what to expect before committing.

Once you choose your package, we’ll send you an official booking link where you:

Select your project start date
Sign your contract
Pay your deposit

And then the fun begins.

Laying the Foundation: The Brand Questionnaire

About a week before your official start date, we send over our brand questionnaire.

This is where we dig deep.

For our Essentials and Launch packages, we need clarity on foundational pieces like:

Are you keeping your business name or changing it?
What is your mission?
What products or services do you offer?
Who is your target audience?
What are your core values?
What makes you different?

For Close with Cait, this was a crucial step. Cait had a heart for helping clients feel confident and supported in the mortgage process, but her old brand wasn’t fully reflecting her personality, lacking the warmth and fun she brings. The questionnaire helped us clarify her voice and direction before we ever touched design.

For our Brand Refresh package, the process is more streamlined. We focus primarily on what’s changing and how to elevate what already exists.

Discovery: Research + Moodboard

For Essentials and Launch clients, once we receive your questionnaire, we begin our deep dive.

We research your industry.
We analyze competitors.
We identify positioning gaps.
We begin building a visual direction.

Then we create a custom moodboard that captures your potential brand aesthetic.

This is what we review together during your Planning Call in week one.

With Close with Cait, this is where we refined the balance between professional and personable. The moodboard helped us visually align before we began designing. We want your honest feedback during this phase. This stage ensures we are headed in the right direction before investing time into concept development.

Step 2: The Design Phase

This is where strategy turns into creativity.

We literally start with pen and paper. Sketching. Exploring. Pushing ideas further. Eliminating the obvious.

We generate tons of ideas behind the scenes and narrow them down to the strongest two directions. Those are the concepts we bring into the computer and build out fully. We look through hundreds of fonts (literally) and try out multiple iterations of color combinations until we get the right one.

Each concept includes:

Logo suite
Color palette
Typography system
Brand pattern or supporting graphics

Then we schedule your Brand Presentation Call.

This is one of our favorite parts of the process because you get to finally see what we’ve been creating together!

After the presentation, we send along your brand concepts PDF. You take a couple of days to process, chat with trusted friends, and decide which direction feels like home. Then, let us know which direction is your favorite, what you love, and what changes you’d like to see.

Each package includes two rounds of revisions, if needed.

We meet for a Round 2 Presentation where your refined concept is fully polished and mocked up on real-life applications - helping you envision your brand in action before we finalize.

For Close with Cait, we walked through the inspiration behind each concept and demonstrated how each visual direction could function in the real world. She fell in love with the second concept, and knew it suited her brand’s mission, values, and personality. It was more fun than her old branding, bringing her joy like she was a kid in a candy shop. She also liked the pattern from concept 1, and asked us to integrate it into her branding.

Step 3: Deliver

Once you approve your brand, we move into the Deliver phase.

This is where everything gets exported and organized.

You receive:

All logo variations in your brand colors
File types: JPG, PNG, SVG, and EPS
Clearly named files
Organized folders for easy access

For Essentials and Launch clients, you also receive a detailed Brand Guidelines PDF. This document outlines how to use your brand correctly and consistently. It’s invaluable for contractors, team members, or future designers who touch your brand.

For Close with Cait, this guide became her blueprint. No more guessing which font to use or what shade of blue was correct.

Everything was clear.

The Launch Package: Bringing It to Life

For Launch clients, the process doesn’t stop at brand delivery.

Next, we:

Schedule your brand photoshoot
Help recommend rental studios if needed
Design your custom stationery and digital assets
Begin your website build

We send a separate website questionnaire to gather details like:

Your domain
Site structure
Key messaging
Strategic calls-to-action

Your brand photo gallery will be delivered 1 week after your session date. Your custom website includes one round of revisions and instructional videos so you feel confident making edits in the future.

This is the full ecosystem. Brand + visuals + web presence, all aligned.

Add-Ons & Ongoing Support

If you select add-ons, those are typically completed toward the end of the branding timeline.

And once your brand is complete, you’re eligible for our Monthly Graphic Design Retainer.

Because we now know your brand inside and out, we can create marketing materials for you efficiently and cohesively. No re-explaining your vision every time you need something new.

Why This Process Works

Our process is structured, but collaborative.

Strategic, but creative.

Detailed, but never overwhelming.

We guide you through each step so you feel confident and clear, not confused. Clients like Close with Cait leave not just with beautiful visuals, but with clarity in how to show up in their business moving forward.

And that’s the real goal.

“Lydia and the Venlo team were absolutely fantastic to work with! We worked together on a full brand re-design and photoshoot. The brand redesign was such a fun process, and she captured exactly what I was looking for from the very beginning. Any tweaks or ideas I had she heard with an open mind and put them into practice in a way that made sense. The photoshoot was super fun, she got exactly the types of photos that I felt like I was missing.” – Cait Haugen

Ready for Your Own Transformation?

If your brand feels DIY, inconsistent, or simply not aligned with where your business is headed, it may be time.

Start by filling out our inquiry form. We’ll send you our full pricing guide and help you determine which package makes the most sense for you.

Your next chapter deserves a brand that matches it.

Let's Build it

What It’s Really Like to Work With Us: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Our Branding Process