The Brandologist

Glossary of Branding

Strategic terms, decoded. So your next packaging brief doesn’t sound like a therapy session gone wrong.
Designed for founders, skincare nerds, and anyone tired of guessing what “brand architecture” actually means.

A documented and easy to follow plan

An actionable rollout plan that sequences priorities, owners and timelines for smooth implementation.

No chaos. Everyone knows what to do next.

Brand Guidelines

Brand System

The full ecosystem of your brand’s visuals, voice, behaviour, and structure — not just your logo. It’s how your brand behaves when you’re not watching.

More than just vibes. It's your brand’s operating system.

Brand Infrastructure

Consistency Fatigue

The point where brand guidelines feel like a prison — but breaking them too early kills your recognition.

When you want to change everything but know you probably shouldn’t (yet).

Brand Infrastructure

Voice vs Tone

Voice is who your brand is. Tone is how it sounds in different situations. Think of it like this: same personality, different volume settings.

Voice = your brand’s personality. Tone = the mood it’s in today.

Brand Messaging

Founder-Led Brand

A brand where the founder’s voice, story, and presence is deeply embedded in its identity — often magnetic, but sometimes messy.

Equal parts power move and pressure cooker. If you know, you know.

Brand Personality

Brand Architecture

The structure of your brand ecosystem — how your main brand, sub-brands, product lines, and extensions all relate to each other.

Like a family tree, but messier (especially when no one planned it properly).

Brand Structure

Brand Strategy

Defines the commercial goals, audience focus, positioning, and messaging so design is doing a job—not just looking pretty.

The plan that everything else executes.

Complete Brand Foundation

Visual Identity System

A coherent set of visual rules—logo, colour, type and components—built to scale across packaging, web and content.

The toolkit your brand uses everywhere.

Complete Brand Foundation

Brand Touchpoint

Every single place your brand makes contact with someone — from your unboxing experience to your Instagram bio. If it leaves an impression, it’s a touchpoint.

Basically, anywhere your brand whispers, shouts or seduces someone.

Customer Experience

Typography Hierarchy

The structure of your brand's text. Headlines, subheads, product titles — all laid out in a way that your reader doesn’t get lost (or bored).

Making sure your text knows who's boss.

Typography

Complete visual identity system + brand guidelines

Full identity build with a maintainable guideline set so teams and partners stay consistent.

One cohesive visual language, documented.

Visual Identity – System & Guidelines

Asset library

Icons, patterns, textures, mockups and base templates packaged for fast, consistent production.

Ready-to-use brand ingredients.

Visual Identity – System & Guidelines

Art direction

Subject, lighting, framing and layout systems so shoots and content aren’t reinvented every time. (photography, product framework, label conventions, supporting material, social guides, email guides)

A look that’s unmistakably yours.

Visual Identity – System & Guidelines

Compliance Design

The design work that balances creativity with legal requirements — ingredient labels, SPF disclaimers, barcode positioning, and anything the TGA might breathe down your neck about.

The stuff that keeps your pretty packaging from getting pulled from shelves.

Compliance

SPF Label Hierarchy

How SPF, broad spectrum, PA ratings, and ingredients are visually prioritised on sunscreen packaging to meet compliance *and* look damn good.

Making sure your SPF doesn’t look like a budget chemist knockoff (even if it is).

Compliance

Unboxing Experience

The emotional and sensory moment of opening your product — where design, messaging, texture, and timing collide.

How your brand says 'I’m worth it' before they’ve even tried the product.

Customer Experience

Packaging Mockup

A visual rendering of what your packaging will look like — used to test, pitch, and visualise before production.

How you sell the vision before you’ve spent a cent on print.

Design Tools

Front Panel Hierarchy

The order in which a customer processes your packaging at first glance. What jumps out first, what lingers, what’s absorbed subconsciously. It’s make-or-break stuff.

How to make someone care in 1.3 seconds.

Hierarchy

INCI

International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients. The universal language for what’s actually inside your skincare — whether it sounds sexy or not.

The fine print that ingredient nerds live for (and founders love to ignore).

Label Content

Brand photography direction + content strategy

Shot lists, angles and storytelling mapped to campaigns and evergreen content.

Plan the shots that actually sell.

Packaging, Web & Digital

Packaging design + production file preparation

Design and prepress built with specialist suppliers—finish specs, dielines and compliance mapped in.

Packaging that looks premium and prints perfectly.

Packaging, Web & Digital

Packaging System

A cohesive, scalable structure for all your product packaging. Built to expand across SKUs without losing your brand identity.

Your packaging’s personal ecosystem — minus the chaos.

SKU Structure

Call to Action (CTA)

The prompt that tells someone what to do next — buy now, book a call, swipe, save, click, convert.

Where you stop being mysterious and start being direct.

Conversion

Conversion Copy

Writing designed to get a specific action — buy, book, sign up, click — without fluff or filler.

Where your words stop being cute and start doing their job.

Conversion

Website design + full Shopify implementation

Theme selection or custom build, app stack, tracking and handover training so you can run it in‑house.

Beautiful, fast, and built right in Shopify.

Packaging, Web & Digital

E‑commerce strategy + conversion optimisation

CRO roadmap across PDPs, bundles, CX patterns, reviews and post‑purchase to lift AOV and repeat rate.

Turn traffic into customers, not bounce rates.

Packaging, Web & Digital

Above the Fold

The area of a web page that’s visible before scrolling. Prime real estate for attention and conversion.

Where you win or lose them in under 3 seconds.

UX Patterns

Information Scent

The cues a user follows (copy, layout, buttons) to decide if they’re on the right path — especially in digital experiences.

If they can’t smell the answer coming, they bounce.

UX Patterns

Beauty‑specialised copywriters + content creators

Tap talent who understand claims, textures and before/afters—so you sound expert, not vague.

Words and visuals that sell skincare.

Influencer partnership strategies + PR guidance

Selection criteria, briefs and measurement to turn partnerships into revenue and brand lift.

Creators that move product, not just impressions.

Wholesale presentation + retail expansion strategy

Builds sell‑in decks, planograms and margin models to land and grow retail accounts.

Pitch like a brand buyers trust.

Retention strategies + loyalty program design

Designs perks, tiers and triggers tied to behaviour, not vanity points.

Keep customers coming back.

Customer journey mapping + experience optimisation

Removes friction points and adds loyalty cues across the lifecycle to increase LTV.

Tighten the path to repeat purchase.

Klaviyo setup + email automation flows

Builds core flows (welcome, browse/cart, post‑purchase, replenishment) and a campaign calendar starter.

Lifecycle revenue on autopilot (the good kind).

Go‑to‑market strategy + launch campaign execution

Territories, hooks, offer architecture and channel mix for launch—plus execution support.

Make noise that converts.

Social media asset templates + brand application

Reusable template systems and usage rules so the feed looks consistent without slowing you down.

Posts that stay on‑brand in two clicks.

I'm not a dirty secret, I'm a shiny weapon.

Let's make something worth keeping confidential.