Why just get by when you can thrive?
We create thoughtful, purposeful brands that connect with customers & stop their scroll.
We might be for you if…
You’re feeling some brand shame or are ready to ditch the DIY and feeling like a hobbyist
You want to stop giving caveats when you give someone your website link
(“It’s not quite ready yet but…”)
You’re ready to invest in something that will help your business grow and stop wasting time doing it all on your own
What we do
We excel at building brands with a refined, thoughtful aesthetic and just the right amount of detail.
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The foundation of every project. Our process builds a cohesive, flexible, and strategic visual system for your business that connects with your audience, conveys your values, and makes you feel proud to share.
This versatile tool kit includes ample logo variations & marks to give you variety, signature color palette & typography for cohesion, brand textures or patterns for style, and anything else we dream up through the process—along with a brand guide to keep you on track going forward.
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It’s easy to sell online—but difficult to do it well. Together, we can break free from DIY limitations and boring templates to create a high-converting selling machine for your business.
We work with Shopify for ecommerce and Squarespace for service-based businesses.
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There’s no doubt you’ve made a past purchase based on packaging alone. This key element can make or break your customer’s experience. Whether you need a custom container for your food or beauty product, or want to create a beautiful unboxing experience for shipping with tissue paper, stickers, and custom box design, we can infuse your branding elements to create something that works.
Our clients’ products have made it onto shelves in national chains like Target, Whole Foods, and Wegmans, as well as countless local retailers.
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A brand may catch their eye, but the words are what will get them to stay. We truly believe messaging is one of the top components of a successful brand—and saying it clearly and concisely is our specialty.
With our copywriting partner, we can help establish key brand messaging, write website copy, product descriptions, pen newsletters, and more.
How does this all work?
kind words from our clients
“I was scared to invest in a brand designer because I started cozy- hearted from nothing and already knew the blankets would be expensive. I had a vision in my head but didn't not know to execute. Investing in my branding was something I will never regret. After my first meeting with Dotted Design I knew she was the perfect fit. From the beginning it's like she knew what my thoughts were and brought them to life. Laura is pure magic and is beyond great at what she does. She makes you feel like you are her only client and goes above and beyond to make your brand perfect for you and your customers. I am forever grateful for her and if you need any branding done I cannot recommend her enough!”
Katherine, Cozy-hearted
“Laura is not only easy to communicate with and patient, she is blessed with the special gift of being able to take what is in your mind and turn it into reality. I have never worked with a graphic designer who so deeply gets what we want to express through our packaging, understands our brand at its core and produces jaw-dropping designs!”
Lisa Stoy, Green Girl Bakeshop
“I'm just so elated with what you came up with. I feel giddy just thinking about it and already feel more pride about the brand which is what I was hoping for. I feel like just in the work you did, you increased the value of our company to a multi-million dollar company! I'm so grateful for your design skills and great listening skills. And I loved the verbal notes you provided to walk me through your decisions, that's such a nice feature that you offer.”
Christy, Muffin Revolution
“You renewed my faith and lit my soul on fire again for my business, so thank you!!! I'm not sure how I will ever repay you for doing what you call ‘your job.’ It was clear from the moment you accepted the challenge that you were 100% invested and treated this project like it was your own business.”
Jenn Ederer, Modern Day Collective & Greencrest Manor
You may be wondering…
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We are a small agency by design. We want to work with clients who are on the verge of something big but know they can’t get there alone! If you’re anywhere from a start-up/solopreneur up to having a small team, we’ll likely be a great fit.
If you already have your own large marketing team, you will likely be better served by a large agency that has more resources on tap.
You should also be someone who appreciates great design but is ready to let us provide you our expertise and new thoughts, someone who respects people’s time, and someone who does not tend to disappear for months at a time (yes, this happened once!).
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We know that finding time for a call can be a lot when you’re busy with your business. (We’re a team of introverts ourselves!) But, we find this is the best way to learn if we are both good fits for each other! We ask lots of questions about you, your business, your working style, and your goals, and then we can make our best, most personalized recommendation for the services you’ll need. Many clients aren’t 100% certain what they will need, and this step helps define that.
If we feel we can’t offer you the best possible outcome for your project, we will happily refer you to someone else. The call itself requires zero obligation!
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We are not a rush-and-get-done type of studio. There is incredible creativity that can arise when given the space to develop new and unique concepts.
That being said, we know you don’t want to wait a year to build a new brand and website. Once a project starts, we want to keep it moving! The biggest factor in how things go is how long it takes you to provide feedback. If you sit on something for weeks without replying…obviously that will eat into the timeline!
The average brand takes 4-6 weeks, the average Squarespace site can be done in 6-8 weeks, and the average Shopify site runs 8-10 weeks. Packaging varies greatly depending on where you are in the process, but could be anywhere from 2-8 weeks. Need it sooner? Check out our intensives!
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Our answer is incredibly annoying, but it truly varies greatly by client. We build custom proposals for every project that suit your specific needs.
We can either: 1) build a proposal based on your list, or 2) if you have a set budget, we can let you know what services we can provide for that amount. We can also provide tiers of options or do projects in phases to ease the financial investment.
Top factors:
How many pages on your website
Whether you need a simple starter brand or a more developed brand
How many products you have (ex: are we designing a box in two flavors or 10 flavors?)
How many services you need (ex: does your site need copywriting, or just design?)
As a very general reference point, the average custom branding project falls between $2-5K, the average Squarespace site between $4-7K, and the average Shopify site $5-15K. Have a smaller budget? We get it! Our design intensive rates are here.
We also work with a handful of nonprofit organizations every year with special pricing, so please reach out if this is you!
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The depth of the project is the differentiator here!
Custom design is for the business looking to grow or scale. You likely did some DIY to get where you are, and now that you feel more solid in your business plan and customers, you want to build a powerhouse foundation that connects better, works better, and shares your values better.
Design Intensives were crafted to serve the new business owner that is still working to understand their business, their audience, and their place in the market. You don’t need those bells and whistles yet: we offer a simpler package on a concise timeline that will give you a professional, put-together start! Learn more here.
