When you’re starting a brand from scratch, where do you begin?

When you’re starting a brand from scratch, where do you begin?

There are plenty of reasonable answers: brand guides, websites, pitch decks, ads, social, motion…

I often start with the open graph image and the copy that appears when content is shared on social platforms. It’s the first moment your brand shows up in the wild, and sometimes the only one.

It’s a small surface area with real constraints, but it touches almost every core brand element. You have to make the logo, type, color, imagery, spacing, and overall tone work together.

That’s where design decisions stop being theoretical. Who the work is for (ICP), what it sits next to in a feed (competitors), and tagline positioning all show up as concrete visual and editorial choices. Those choices directly affect whether someone pauses, understands, and decides to engage.

It's a practical playground and a meaningful growth lever. It’s a fast way to test design systems, visual language, and messaging early.

When it works, the brand doesn’t just look cohesive. It comes together. If it works there, it tends to scale everywhere else.