It's like trying to decorate a house before the walls are built. You can buy the perfect sofa and the most beautiful curtains, but without a floor plan and a structural frame, you’re just creating chaos.

This is exactly what happens when a business dives into designing a website without first establishing its brand identity.

In the rush to get online, it can be tempting to see brand design as an optional extra, a "nice-to-have" that can be figured out later. But this approach is a false economy. Investing time in your brand identity before you start your website project is the single most effective way to save money, reduce stress, and create a final product that truly connects with your customers.

What is "Brand Design"? (It’s More Than Just a Logo)

Before we go further, let's be clear. A strong brand identity is not just a logo you bought online for £50. It’s the DNA of your business - a comprehensive rulebook that defines how you look, feel, and sound.

A proper branding exercise will establish your:

• Visual Identity: Your logo, colour palette, and typography (fonts).

• Brand Strategy: Your mission, your values, and who your ideal customer is.

• Tone of Voice: The personality your brand uses in all its written communication.

The High Cost of Putting the Website Cart Before the Branding Horse

When a web designer is asked to start a project without this brand "rulebook," it almost always leads to problems that cost you time and money.

• Endless Revisions & Spiralling Costs: Without a defined brand guide, the design process becomes a guessing game. "Does this blue feel right?" "Should we try a more 'playful' font?" These subjective questions lead to endless back-and-forth revisions, racking up design hours and pushing your project over budget.

• An Inconsistent Customer Experience: Your website ends up looking one way, your social media another, and your emails a third. This inconsistency confuses customers and undermines your professionalism, making you look amateur.

• The Inevitable, Costly Redesign: This is the most painful cost. Six or twelve months down the line, you realise your "quick" website doesn't truly represent your business. You're then forced into a costly and time-consuming redesign, effectively paying for the same project twice. As I've said elsewhere, the most expensive project is the one you have to do twice.

The Exception: The "MVP" Website

Sometimes, you just need to get something online quickly. This is where a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) website comes in. An MVP should be just that - minimal. It’s a simple, functional, one-page site with your temporary logo, a clear statement of what you do, and how to contact you.

The crucial mindset here is to treat it as a temporary placeholder, not a permanent foundation. It’s a digital business card, launched with the full knowledge that a proper branding and website design project is on the roadmap for the near future.

How Branding First Creates a Better, More Efficient Process

When a web designer is handed a clear brand guide at the start of a project, the entire process is transformed.

• Clarity and Focus: The big, subjective decisions - colours, fonts, logo usage - are already made. This allows us to focus all our energy on what matters most: creating a brilliant user experience, an intuitive layout, and a clear path for your customers to take action.

• Speed and Efficiency: This clarity dramatically reduces the number of revision rounds, shortening the project timeline and keeping it on budget.

• Long-Term Consistency: Your new brand identity becomes the foundation for everything. Your website, your social media, your business cards, and your email signature all work together, reinforcing your brand at every single touchpoint.

Build Your Foundation First

Brand design isn't an optional extra you bolt on later, it's the foundational work that makes every subsequent marketing investment - especially your website - more powerful and effective. Build your brand first, and your website will have a cohesive, compelling story to tell.

At Brand Canyon, my process always starts with the brand. I help businesses in Market Harborough and across the UK build strong foundations for long-term growth. If you’re thinking about a new website, let’s start with a conversation about your brand.