Branding · Positioning · Creative direction
Brands that communicate quality without having to explain it.
I'm Lucas Salgado, a brand strategist and creative director based in Belém, Brazil. I bring strategy, creative direction and visual identity together for companies whose real quality doesn't yet show in the brand.
The problem
Most good businesses have a silent problem.
The problem sits in the perception the brand creates before any contact happens.
Customers don't get to see behind the scenes before they buy: they decide by what they can see. A company can mature in delivery, in price and in audience while its brand keeps telling the story of an earlier stage. The quality that exists only inside the operation doesn't reach the customer on its own.
Visual identity is the visual reputation of your business.
It is your business's visual reputation, and it speaks before you do.
Before you hire
Four common ways out, and why they don't solve it.
- Changing only the logoIt changes the surface. Without defining position and attributes, the new logo repeats the problem with a different face.
- Producing more contentPosting often amplifies the message that already exists. If it is misaligned, it amplifies the misalignment.
- Doing it in-housePeople inside the business know the operation, but find it hard to see what the customer sees from outside.
- WaitingA brand doesn't update itself. As the company grows, the gap widens.
Diagnosis
Three questions that reveal the gap.
- 01
If a new customer compared your communication with that of three competitors, could they say what you do better?
- 02
Swap your company's name for a competitor's on your website. Is the text still true? If so, it describes the category, not your company.
- 03
At which touchpoint would a customer find out that the brand promised more than the company delivers?
If any answer took a while, the problem starts before the design. Take the quick brand read.
What I do
Strategy first. Design follows from it.
- 01
Perception diagnosis
I investigate the operation, the competition and the touchpoints to measure the gap between what the company delivers and what the market perceives. It is where the project begins, before any drawing.
- 02
Positioning and verbal identity
I define what the brand needs the customer to understand, for whom and against whom, with a tone of voice and messages that support the decision. The test is one sentence: why choose this company and not the closest one?
- 03
Creative direction and visual identity
Logo, colors, typography, system and applications, all decided from the positioning. Design expresses the strategy and depends on it.
- 04
System and governance
Manual, files and usage criteria, so the team applies the brand the same way without needing me for every piece.
Projects
The reasoning behind each brand.
Preciosa Joias
A jewelry store with an amateur brand that didn't match the standard of the pieces it sold. The P and J monogram can recall two interlocked rings: union and commitment.
See the reasoning →
Own project
Norte Growth Revenue
Positioned as the growth department companies in Brazil's North don't yet have. No rockets, with business indicators instead of vanity metrics.
See the reasoning →
Record Belém
Celebra Belém
An identity for the city's 410th anniversary, designed to work at once in communication pieces and in event environments.
See in the portfolio →Method
Hiring a brand project shouldn't be a leap in the dark.
- 01ImmersionBrief, market, competition and customers. It ends with the diagnosis of the gap between what the company delivers and what the market perceives.
- 02StrategyAttributes, audience, competition and positioning. This is the base that guides the design.
- 03IdeationReferences, moodboard and idea validation. The visual direction is approved before any final piece.
- 04ImplementationSketches, application tests and refinement. The system is applied where the customer meets the brand.
- 05DeliveryA presentation of the logic behind the decisions, plus files and manual, so the team can run the brand on its own.
About
Strategy before visuals.
Branding is a system. Visual identity is one part of it. I start with investigation and strategy, and design comes in to make the positioning understandable.
I use design to turn positioning into perceived value. I work with companies that have grown and feel the brand has been left behind, with a focus on aesthetics, health and B2B services.
I deliver a clear process, explained decisions and a brand your team can use day to day. Commercial results enter the conversation only when there is evidence.
- Based in
- Belém, Pará, Brazil
- Practice
- Brand strategy, creative direction, visual identity
- For
- Growing companies: aesthetics, health and B2B services