From backlog to branding: same story, same sprint

What follows is not a universal manifesto on how to do branding. It’s our way of approaching it, especially when the heart of the project is a digital product. It’s not the only way – but it works when brand and UX are deeply integrated. The brand is born there, as part of the roadmap.

It’s a matter of principle

Over the years, working on dozens of digital products, we’ve learned what truly works – and what doesn’t. Here are the principles that guide our approach to branding:

Product + Brand together. We work on branding because we come from digital product design. For us, identity only makes sense if it improves the experience. It’s not enough for it to look good – it has to work. It must emerge from usage, not taste.

Needs, not opinions. Before picking a color or a typeface, we listen to users. Understanding their needs helps us design a brand that speaks their language – not our ego.

Three disciplines, one experience. When brand, design, and development work together, interfaces make sense, tone is consistent, and every detail contributes to a unified experience.

Identity as a living system. A well-designed brand is like a Design System: tokens, components, visual patterns. It should grow with the product – not need a full reboot every time.

1. We specialize in digital product design and build brands for startups

Three things to clarify upfront:

• Moze was born as a digital product design and development studio. That’s always been our craft – and our point of view starts there.
• When we work on branding, it’s for product-led startups with teams who know how crucial the user experience is in defining identity.
• We’re not fans of “150-page branding bibles” filled with commandments. We prefer practical, evolving systems built to grow with the product.

Why this level of selectivity?

For the same reason a tailor doesn’t sew the same suit for everyone. A suit works only if it fits the measurements, movements, and habits of the person wearing it. That’s how we design brands: starting from the product, how it’s used, and what it communicates daily to those who interact with it.

The result isn’t a catwalk showpiece – it’s something built to wear. Different skills, different cuts. Our natural habitat is digital: pixels, words, and micro-interactions. If the product is the structure, the brand is the cut that makes it unique, recognizable, and coherent in every situation.

2. Branding driven by needs

We use the Jobs-to-be-Done framework to anchor branding to concrete needs – not personal taste. Here’s how:

• Interviews with real or potential users, to understand what drives them, what they’re looking for, where they sigh and where they smile.
• Mapping “jobs”: we collect functional, emotional, and social needs that make people choose and integrate the product into their lives.
• Storytelling that translates those needs into brand language: tone, voice, and visuals that reflect what the user feels.

This way, we design identities that resonate. Not the founder’s (“I like purple”) or the designer’s (“I want a bold Grotesk”), but the ones that actually serve the user.

3. UX, tech, and brand: the perfect triangle

We are designers, developers, and researchers at the same table. Not because it’s trendy, but because we know how critical it is to look at a product from three angles at once: functionality, technology, meaning.

It took years to find a way for design and tech to truly talk to each other – but when they do, something rare happens: landing pages, onboarding, even welcome emails all feel like they came from one mind. And that’s exactly how it should be.

It’s not just about visual consistency. It’s about unified experience. About breathing life into an identity at every touchpoint – even the ones usually taken for granted.

4. Build systems, not cathedrals

Startups are stories in progress. They start with a draft, change structure, rewrite entire chapters, sometimes flip the ending. In this context, identity can’t be a carved-in-stone title on the cover. It has to be a flexible narrator, adapting to the evolving tone of the story.

A well-designed identity keeps up with the story without forcing it. It doesn’t frame chaos with rigid rules – it gives it shape, helping the thread remain visible through change. Branding isn’t there to freeze identity. It makes it readable as it evolves, bringing coherence to transitions and continuity to the narrative.

It must be modular. Each element – visual, textual, tonal – should evolve without requiring a full reboot. Like a solid Design System: change a token, the rest follows.

It must embrace evolution. That’s why we release a first version in 6–8 weeks, then iterate. Not because we love unfinished work – but because real use will reveal the real needs.

It must stay true to the DNA. Vision, mission, and core archetypes are the backbone. Everything else – style, tone, imagery – can (and should) evolve.

Brand Guidelines aren’t the final chapter. They’re margin notes, draft chapters, editor’s scribbles: there to ensure coherence as the story unfolds – not to freeze it. When we treat them as gospel, they become framed quotes: nice to reread, but disconnected from the plot that keeps moving.

Our Process (In Short)

The Brand Sprint starts with a workshop to define vision, analyze the competitive context, and explore brand personality. A week of research follows: interviews and analysis to gather insights. Two weeks of exploration lead to moodboards and visual concepts tested through interactive prototypes. We then build brand assets: logo, palette, typography, iconography, tone of voice, and a mini guide for usage. Finally, we create a first Design System with tokens, Figma components, and handoff documentation.

In 6–8 weeks, we build together – step by step, with weekly check-ins and concrete deliverables. No presentations or fireworks. We prefer to discuss what works, what doesn’t, listen to feedback, and iterate right away. That’s how the brand takes shape naturally – inside the product – without forcing it.

When it makes sense to work with us on branding

• You’re approaching product-market fit and want your identity aligned for the next growth stage.
• Your product works, but doesn’t “sound” like your vision yet.
• You need Design System and brand to speak the same language.
• You want decisions based on insights, not passing design trends.

TL;DR

Brand and product are born in the same sprint. A solid identity improves UX, speaks the user’s language, and grows fast with the roadmap. We do branding for startups because, in that special phase of finding product-market fit, product identity and company identity are one and the same. If that makes sense to you – we’re already aligned.