How to Present Your Branding Projects to Clients (with template)

Creating a whole brand persona for a business can be a lot of fun, but when the time comes to actually present branding projects to our clients, a lot of graphic designers don’t know what to do.

If you’ve ever found yourself ready to show your client your hard work (and hopefully the branding of their dreams) but didn’t know how, this guide is for you.

In this article, you’ll learn the exact way that I’ve been presenting branding projects for clients for years, and also grab a handy template to help you get started right away!

But first, and embarrassing story…

Story Time: My First Branding Project

When I first started working as a graphic designer, one of my first projects was to develop the branding for a small, online stamp creator. I managed, after what felt like endless fiddling, to come up with a concept that I was happy with.

But instead of making a nice branding presentation that I could either send to the client, or physically present to them in person, I just packaged up the logo, a few backgrounds, and one or two examples of how it could all be used, and sent that via email.

Whilst this is definitely the thing to do when the project is finished, and the client is happy with the final product, doing this in the early stages of brand development is a sure sign that the graphic designer doesn’t really know what they’re doing.

Which, if I’m being honest, back then I didn’t. So that checks out.

After receiving a that’s it? response from the client, I set myself on a mission to learn how to correctly present branding projects to my clients.

My method has evolved over time, with things being added and things being removed, but ultimately, I think I’ve devised a killer way to present branding projects that helps clients to really understand all the decisions, work, and the final look of their new branding.

Presenting Branding Projects to Clients: Essential Things You Need to Do

The goal of most branding presentations is to sell the client on a particular idea.

For the most part, clients come to us because they don’t know what they want. Sure, they may have some initial ideas for you to work with, but generally speaking, most clients don’t have a clear picture of what their final branding will look like.

That’s why, when you’ve put in the time to create branding that you think will work for your client’s business , you don’t just bundle everything up and send it over.

Presenting your branding project is the time for you to thoroughly explain the decisions that you’ve made, why the final look will work for the client, and how the new branding ties into the overall story of your client’s business.

Define the Mission and Vision

Your client will already know their brand’s mission and vision, obviously, but it doesn’t hurt to include them at the beginning of your branding presentation. This reassures the client that both you and they are on the same page, setting the tone for the rest of the document.

Showcase Logos

As part of a branding project, you’ll more than likely have had to create a logo for the client. It’s easy to just slap a logo onto a page and be done with it, but something you should do is outline the underlying concepts and ideas behind the design you’ve created.

Have you used a specific shape for a particular reason?  Maybe there are distinct elements within the logo that each have their own meanings? Explain your design choices.

The majority of all logos out in the wild have deeper meanings that just what we see at a surface level. Putting the meaning of your newly designed logo into words will help to sell it to your client. Additionally, you should look to include at least two-colour variations of the logo.

Define the Colour Palette

This one should be a no-brainer, but something that a lot of new designers overlook when sending final branding off to clients – like I did in our story above…

When creating your brand presentation, make sure to include a page that shows all the colours that make up the palette, as well as the HEX and/or RGB values.

Once the branding project is signed off, this page can act as a reference for the client to constantly come back to when implementing the branding you’ve developed.

Show the Typography

No branding suite is complete without a selection of fonts. It’s a good idea to include at least two fonts in your branding, as this will give either you or the client plenty of options to play with when further making use the branding kit later on down the line.

Give Photography Examples

As a graphic designer, you won’t be expected to take photos for your brand (unless that’s something you offer), but you should consider adding some examples into your branding presentation.

The reason for doing this is to give your client some extra context about what type of images will work best with their brand – be that super vibrant, abstract images, or professional, black and white headshots.

Simple stock images will be fine, as these are just examples and most likely won’t be used by the client. If you don’t know where to get decent stock images, you’re in luck! Here are five websites where you can grab high-quality, and FREE, stock images!

Mock up Some Social Media Posts

Ultimately, the goal of a branding presentation is to give your client a feel for how the brand will look and feel out in the real world. And, for many businesses, “out in the real world” is actually out in the digital world, on social media.

You don’t need to go wild with this, but it’s generally a good idea to create a couple social media mockups to show what your client’s brand will look like when actually put to use on marketing material and social content.

I usually include a simple 3x3 grid of Instagram posts, as this allows me to create 9 different posts, and also shows what they all look like when up against each other.

Grab the Template!

If you don’t want to make a whole brand presentation from scratch (who does?), you can get up and running right away with my Branding Presentation Template!

The Branding Presentation Template includes everything mentioned in this article, and some extras too! With the template, you get:

• Fully customisable pages, colours, headings, text, images, and more

• Big and bold title pages, including Mission & Vision, Logos, Colour Palette, Typography, Iconography, Photography, and Social Media

• Unique pages for all of the above

• A customisable Thank You page at the end of the presentation

Want this template? Head to Gumroad to grab it now!

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