Branding project checklist
Positioning, identity, and the rules for using it. 58 items across 7 stages, 21 of them needed from the client.
For: Design lead
01Before we start
Signed proposal or contractKeyFrom client
Countersigned, not "verbally agreed". Work started on a promise is work that may not be paid for.Deposit or first invoice paidKeyFrom client
The payment condition in the contract, met. This is the line the sales SOP will not let a project pass.Decision-maker confirmed by nameKeyFrom client
Who signs things off, and who can say no. A project approved by a committee is a project approved by nobody.Day-to-day contact named, and their working hoursFrom client
Including timezone. Half of "they are slow to respond" is a five-hour offset nobody wrote down.Billing contact and PO or reference number, if they need oneFrom client
Ask now. An invoice rejected in month three for a missing PO number delays payment by a month.Sales-to-delivery handoff completedKeySales
Call notes, proposal versions, commitments, risks and stakeholders - everything promised during the sale, in writing, where delivery can read it.Scope, exclusions and assumptions restated in our own wordsPM
Written by the people delivering it, not copied from the proposal. Rewriting it is how you find what the proposal left ambiguous.Project workspace, folders and client portal set upPM
Client invited and confirmed able to sign in - not "invitation sent".Team assigned with named owners per disciplinePM
One name per discipline. "The design team" is not an owner.Commercials checked against capacity before any date is promisedPM
The PM SOP puts this before assignment on purpose: a timeline agreed without checking the calendar is a timeline that will be missed.NDA or data-handling requirements identifiedPM
If they handle health, financial or children’s data, that changes where things may be stored - and it is cheaper to know now.
02Kick-off
Review turnaround agreed in working daysKeyFrom client
How long feedback takes. Every date in the plan is built on this number, so it is agreed rather than assumed.Feedback consolidated through one personFrom client
Contradictory feedback from three stakeholders is the single most common cause of rework.Client team introduced, including anyone who can vetoFrom client
The person who appears in week eight to reject everything was always going to appear. Better in week one.Holidays, launches and blackout dates on both sidesFrom client
Their trade show and our public holidays, on the plan before it is signed off.Kick-off call held with the decision-maker presentKeyPM
Whole delivery team plus whoever signs off. A kick-off without the decision-maker has to be repeated.Milestones and delivery dates agreed in writingKeyPM
With internal review dates set before each client-facing date, never on the same day.Kick-off notes circulated with decisions, owners and next actionsPM
Within 24 hours, while people still agree on what was said.Communication channel and update cadence agreedPM
Where we talk, how often we report, and what counts as urgent. Written down, so "I messaged you on WhatsApp" is not a delivery method.Escalation path agreed both waysPM
Who to call when something is going wrong, on their side and on ours, before it is going wrong.Change-request process explained and acceptedPM
How a new request gets costed and scheduled. Explaining it at the kick-off is a conversation; explaining it in week seven is a confrontation.Risks and dependencies logged with ownersPM
The PM SOP asks for risks raised early with a proposed solution, not only the problem.
03Discovery
Brand assetsKeyFrom client
Logo in vector, fonts with their licences, colour values, existing guidelines. "We will send the logo" usually means a PNG off the website.Why the brand is changing, and what must not changeKeyFrom client
The second half is the one that saves the project.Business goal for this project, in a numberFrom client
More leads, fewer support tickets, faster checkout. Without a number, "did it work" is a matter of opinion.Who the audience is, and what we want them to doFrom client
Competitors you actually lose toFrom client
Not the biggest names in the category - the ones that come up in your deals.What must not changeFrom client
The thing their customers recognise, or the integration that cannot break. Cheaper to hear now than to rebuild later.Existing assets, however oldFrom client
Competitors, and brands you admire outside your categoryFrom client
Trademark position, or a decision to check itFrom client
Finding out after launch is the expensive version of this conversation.Everywhere the brand appearsFrom client
Product, invoices, signage, uniforms, vehicles, email signatures. The list is always longer than expected.Requirements written down and confirmed back to the clientKeyPM
In their words and ours. The confirmation is the point: it is where a misunderstanding surfaces while it is still free.Existing material reviewed before asking for morePM
Their analytics, support tickets and sales objections are research that is already written down and already paid for.Dependencies mapped between content, design, build and approvalsPM
Which piece cannot start until which other piece finishes, and who is holding each one.Missing information listed and requested as one batchPM
One clear request beats eleven emails over three weeks, and gives the client something they can actually work through.Task breakdown created with owners, reviewers and internal deadlinesPM
04Build
Discovery session run with the people who decideDesign
Not their marketing coordinator. The people who will approve it.Positioning and messaging drafted before any identity workDesign
Naming checked for availability, where in scopeDesign
Domain, trademark, social handles. All three, or none of them counts.Identity routes presented, with the number of rounds agreed firstDesign
05Internal review
Internal review complete before anything reaches the clientKeyPM
The PM SOP is blunt about this: no drafts, no unreviewed work, no outdated versions sent to a client.Type licensing confirmed for web, print and app useKeyDesign
A font the client may not legally use is not a deliverable, and the licence is always narrower than assumed.Reviewed against the scope, not just against "does it work"PM
Every requested item, every feedback point, every agreed state present.No placeholders, lorem ipsum, or test content left anywherePM
Version and file naming correct, and the client is getting the right onePM
Sending v3 when v4 exists costs a review cycle and some credibility.Logo tested small, in one colour, and on a photographDesign
Where logos actually fail. A mark that only works at 400px is not a mark.Colour palette checked for contrast, including on screenDesign
06Client review and sign-off
Written sign-off recordedKeyFrom client
In the portal or in writing. Per the MSA a portal approval is binding, which is exactly why it is worth having.Feedback collected in one placeFrom client
One thread, one document. Feedback spread across email, calls and messages is feedback that will be missed.Walkthrough delivered rather than a link dropped in a chatPM
Ten minutes of context turns "I do not like it" into specific, actionable feedback.Every feedback point converted into a tracked item and closedPM
Tracked by version, so "we told you about that" has an answer either way.Anything out of scope identified, costed and agreed - not absorbed silentlyPM
Quietly absorbing scope teaches a client that scope is free, and the next request will be bigger.
07Handover and close
Logo in every format and lockup, including single-colourDeliverableDesign
Brand guidelinesDeliverableDesign
Messaging frameworkDeliverableDesign
Templates for the things they produce weeklyDeliverableDesign
Deck, proposal, social. A guideline without templates gets ignored within a month.Rollout plan, in order of visibilityDeliverablePM
Run this checklist with your client.
It is built into WorkTogethr - add it to a project, and your client sees what they owe you.