Almost no one who asks for a logo only needs a logo. What they've noticed is that their business doesn't look like one thing. The sign says one thing, the website another, the invoice a third, and the Instagram grid a fourth. The logo is just the easiest place to point at the problem.
A new logo on its own can't fix that. And a logo delivered as a single image file usually makes it worse, because the next person who needs a flyer has nothing to work from and makes up the rest.
So our identity work always produces a system, however small your business: the logo, the colors with their contrast checked, the fonts and the sizes to use them at, and a short guide for what to do when something comes up that nobody planned for.
What you get
It's sized to what your business actually needs, but it generally looks like this:
- A main logo, plus the versions real life needs: wide, stacked, and one that still works at 32 pixels wide in a browser tab.
- A color palette with contrast checked against WCAG 2.2 AA, so your brand isn't quietly hard to read for some of your customers.
- Fonts: one for headlines and one for everyday text, with the sizes and weights you'll actually use, not just a sample sheet.
- Files in every format anyone will ask for: vector files for print and signs, image files for the web, and browser and app icons sized properly instead of squashed.
- A short guidelines document. Short on purpose: six pages someone follows beat a hundred-page brand book nobody opens.
Tested where it will actually appear
A logo gets approved on a plain white screen and then spends its life somewhere else: stitched onto a shirt, printed on a receipt, cropped into a circle by an app that didn't ask, sitting in a browser tab beside eleven others.
So we test it in those places before you sign off, not after. The most common problem with small-business logos is fine detail that disappears at the sizes people see most often. By the time anyone notices, it's already on the van.
Identity and website, in the right order
If you need both, doing them together costs less than doing them separately, because the same decisions only get made once. A color palette picked without knowing how it looks on a dark background, or a font chosen without checking it's licensed for web use, turns into a compromise later.
On Nostos Beach House, the art direction and the website were one piece of work. The design idea came from the name itself (nostos is the Greek word for homecoming), and the site is paced like an arrival. No logo could have carried that idea alone, and no website would have reached it without the brand work.
What this is not
It's not a contest with fifty entries from strangers, and it's not a template with your name dropped in. Both exist, both are cheap, and both are the right choice for some businesses. If you need a readable logo this week for very little money, tell us and we'll point you to them instead of taking the work.
This is for the business that has outgrown the logo it made itself and needs the next one to last a decade.
Work that shows it
Common questions
Can I get just a logo, without a website?
Yes. Identity work stands on its own, and plenty of businesses need it before anything else. The mark (the logo on its own) is $850; the full identity system is $1,950. Both are 20% less alongside a website build, because the same decisions get made once instead of twice. Every price is on the pricing page.
Do I own the logo?
Completely, on final payment, including the original vector files. There's no license to keep paying for and nothing you have to come back to us for.
How many concepts do I see?
Two or three truly different directions, not eight versions of one idea dressed up as choice. Each comes with the reasoning behind it and is shown in real situations, not floating on a white page. So you're choosing between ideas, not just picking a favorite shape.
What if I already have a logo I like?
Then we keep it. A lot of identity work is building the system around a logo that was always fine (the colors, the fonts, the rules), because the logo was never why things looked inconsistent.
How long does it take?
One to two weeks for the mark on its own, two to three weeks for the full identity system. What changes the timing is how quickly decisions get made. The design work is rarely what holds things up.
Will it work for signage and print?
Yes, and we check that instead of assuming it. You get vector files, print-safe color values alongside the screen ones, and a logo tested at the sizes signs and embroidery actually use.