# Brand Identity Design for Beginners - review & insight | Gareth B. Davies Source: https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/brand-identity-design-for-beginners/ [← All courses](https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/) Graphic Design · Solid intro · Rated 6 /10 # Brand Identity Design for Beginners Updated September 2026 Jeremy Mura · Brand and Web Designer All levels · 145 min A working brand studio's exact process, priced in real dollars and revision counts, not abstract theory. [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fbrand-identity-design-for-beginners%2F957098637) New to Skillshare? Your first month is free, enough to take this course at no cost. Jeremy Mura's course promises a beginner's walk through brand identity design, and it largely delivers on that specific promise rather than a broader one. It is not a logo design tutorial in the Illustrator-tips sense, nor a branding-strategy deep dive. It is a client-facing operations manual dressed as a design class, built around the seven-part process Mura says took his own studio years to develop: consult call, discovery, research, stylescapes, logo design, touchpoints, production, and delivery. ## Where the course earns its keep The strongest material sits in the parts that have nothing to do with aesthetics. The consult call lesson explains why a short phone or Zoom conversation beats a website questionnaire, and frames the call as a filtering tool: spot red flags, gauge personality, decide whether to say no. The payment structure that follows, a 50 percent deposit upfront with milestone billing on larger projects, is the kind of concrete business detail that design-school curricula rarely cover. The delivery lesson is similarly practical, covering file transfer tools, folder naming conventions, and a template email for the final handoff that includes a review request. The messaging and tone of voice lesson stands out for its method rather than its content. Comparing three Australian mattress brands side by side (Koala, Forty Winks, Snooze) to show how word choice, color, and imagery signal different personalities is a clear, transferable exercise. It teaches pattern recognition rather than a checklist, which is more durable than most branding advice. ## Where it thins out The logo design lesson, arguably the section beginners most want detail on, moves quickly through sketching, vectorizing, and the mockup stage without lingering on any single decision long enough to teach transferable judgment. Anyone hoping for a rundown of typographic pairing, grid construction, or color theory will find only passing mentions. The stylescape method, borrowed explicitly from Chris Do's teaching, gets a clear rationale but a thin how-to. The client walkthrough for the Liezl Torres vocal brand is the closest the course gets to a full case study, but it moves through discovery, stylescapes, and logo revisions at a pace that favors narration over demonstration. Viewers looking to study the actual design decisions in detail will come away with an impression rather than a method. The class project, three creative briefs (organic food delivery, a live-streaming app, an urban clothing label), gives structure for practice, which is valuable, but the course offers no feedback loop or peer review mechanism beyond Skillshare's own community features. ## Verdict This is a course about running a brand identity business as much as designing one. It suits a freelancer or junior designer who already has basic design software skills and wants a process for managing client work, not someone looking to learn logo craft from the ground up. Graphic designers hoping for hands-on Illustrator training or strategists wanting rigorous positioning frameworks should look elsewhere. For its actual audience, beginners assembling their first real workflow, it is a useful, honest, occasionally thin 145 minutes. The standout The seven-part client process, from consult call through delivery, gives a repeatable framework beginners can apply immediately, not just design theory. ## What you will learn - · How to run a 15-30 minute consult call that screens out bad-fit clients before any work begins - · How to structure deposits and milestone payments for projects of different sizes - · How to build a stylescape from curated reference images instead of a loose mood board - · How to develop a logo from sketch through vector file, plus the full deliverable set (primary mark, secondary mark, icon, color and grayscale versions) - · How to research competitor messaging and tone of voice to differentiate a brand's voice - · How to package, present and hand off final files to a client, including a training video and review request Best for: Beginner to intermediate designers and freelancers who want a real client-facing workflow for brand identity projects, not just logo software tutorials. Skip it if: Anyone wanting deep Illustrator technique instruction, advanced brand strategy, or a polished screen-recording production style. Clarity of Instruction Helpful Examples Engaging Teacher Organization of Lessons [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fbrand-identity-design-for-beginners%2F957098637)