Field Notes
A short guide for food and lifestyle brand owners who want a useful first conversation, not a sales pitch.
Most first consultations go sideways for one simple reason: the business owner hasn't had time to think about what they actually need. They know something feels off about their branding or their social media, but they haven't put words to it yet. That's fine. This post is about what you can gather beforehand so the conversation moves faster and you leave with something useful.
Bring a list of your core products or menu items. For a coffee roaster, that might be your three best-selling origins and the new seasonal blend you're testing. For a bakery, it could be your daily staples plus the weekend specials. The point is to give us a concrete sense of what you make and what you're proud of. We can talk about visual identity all day, but it has to anchor back to something real.
Think about who walks through your door or orders from your website. Are they mostly neighbourhood residents in their thirties? Tourists passing through? Office workers grabbing lunch? You don't need a detailed customer persona document. A few honest sentences about who keeps coming back is enough. It helps us understand whether your current visuals are speaking to the right people or to nobody in particular.
Screenshots of Instagram posts you liked, packaging from a brand you admire, a menu layout that caught your eye. They don't have to be from your industry. A clothing brand with a clean type treatment can inspire a coffee bag design just as well as another roaster's work. The useful part is explaining why something appeals to you. That gives us a starting point for direction.
If you run a small operation, chances are you wear many hats. Maybe you handle the shop floor and your partner manages the Instagram account. Or you're a solo founder doing everything after closing time. Tell us how decisions get made and who will be involved in approving work. It saves a lot of back and forth later when we know whether we're presenting to one person or a small group.
Are you opening a second location in three months? Launching a new product line before the holiday season? Or just tired of your current look and ready to change it without a hard deadline? All of these are valid. Knowing your timeline helps us suggest a realistic scope for the first phase of work.
You don't need a polished brief or a mood board to book a consultation. A few notes about your product, your customers, and what's been bothering you about your current visuals are plenty. The rest we can figure out together.
Want to talk through your own brand before commissioning work?
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