I’ve watched too many brilliant products lose to worse ones because the brand didn’t match the ambition. Design Alchemist fixes that — strategy first, design second, built to last.
The Diagnosis
Because they hired a designer when they needed a strategist. The brief covered aesthetics. The actual problem was strategic.
“Visual identity is a business system — not a logo, not a colour palette, not a vibe. A system.”
Your brand looks like your current stage
Investors see where you are, not where you’re heading.
Design decisions have no business logic behind them
“We liked the blue” isn’t a brand strategy.
You’re on your third logo and it still doesn’t feel right
That’s because the problem was never the logo. It was the brief.
Your brand can’t keep up with your ambition
No system. No rules. Just a folder of files nobody uses consistently.
How We Work
Every engagement starts with strategy. The visual system follows. You end up with a brand that does the selling before you say hello.
Most Popular · Series A Ready
Full brand identity plus a design system built to scale. Starts with a discovery and strategy sprint, then covers the logo system, colour and type, a Figma component library, a landing page, and social templates.
A complete visual identity in under two weeks. Logo, palette, typography, business card, email signature, and brand guidelines PDF. For founders launching in the next 30 days.
Ongoing design partnership for brands scaling faster than their team can handle. 40–80 hrs/month, weekly async check-ins, full access to the DA system. Your design lead without the overhead.
High-craft Figma templates for founders who want to do it themselves without it looking that way. Commercial licence, video walkthrough, free updates. Same design thinking, self-serve format.
The Method
Every visual decision is traceable to a business objective. Here’s how we get there.
01
Where you are vs. where you need to be. Audience, positioning, competitive context, and the specific business objectives your brand has to support.
02
Logo, colour, type, spacing — every token tied to a decision rationale. Not a mood board. A system with rules that scale when you hire your 10th person.
03
Brand codex, Figma components, social templates, website — everything needed to use the brand consistently from day one.
The Person Behind It
Nine years designing digital products taught me something most designers won’t say out loud: your visual identity is a business system. Not a logo. Not a colour palette. A system that tells investors you’re serious, tells customers you’re worth the premium, and tells competitors you’re not going anywhere.
The frustrating part? Most founders only figure this out after they’ve already paid for something that looks fine but doesn’t perform. They hired a designer. What they actually needed was someone who thinks like a strategist and builds like a designer.
That’s the gap Design Alchemist fills.
9
Years UI/UX & brand design
4
Service tiers, every stage
AA
WCAG 2.2 by default
1×
Do it right, once
Strategy-led design for founders building something worth looking at — and worth betting on.
Strategy and Design, Dissected
Real brand decisions pulled apart. Frameworks you can actually use. Written for founders who want to understand the thinking, not just see the output.
Most founders don’t realise their brand is actively losing them deals. Here are seven specific signals — and what each one is communicating to investors.
The brief was aesthetic. The problem was strategic. Here’s why doing it backwards is the most expensive mistake early-stage founders make.
Notion’s 2019 rebrand wasn’t a cosmetic update. It was the moment they stopped designing for where they were and started designing for where they were going.
New articles every week across Design Autopsy, Strategy Layer, Building in Public, and Transformation Stories.
Free · Twice a Month
Brand strategy and design frameworks, written for founders who want their brand to work harder than their pitch deck. No padding, no obvious advice.
Every issue includes
One brand autopsy — a real visual identity dissected, decision by decision
One strategy framework — something concrete you can apply to your own brand today
Building in public — what’s actually working building Design Alchemist
Under 5 minutes — dense and specific, never padded out to look impressive
Ready when you are
I’ll tell you exactly what your brand is communicating right now — and what it should be saying instead. Free 30-minute call, no pitch deck.
No commitment. No pitch deck. Just a straight diagnosis.