Behind the Brand: The Full Process of Creating Honestly I Am

Hey Creatives

In today’s newsletter, we are going to show you the real-world process of creating a brand identity for a protein brand.

Building a brand isn’t just about making a logo or picking colors.
It’s about crafting a voice, a vibe, and a reason to exist in the first place.

In this newsletter, I’m breaking down exactly how we built Honestly, I Am — a radically honest, clean-label protein bar brand launching in the UK from the ground up.

Let’s dive into the full branding journey:

We never begin with visuals. First, we go deep into strategy the brain behind the brand.

For Honestly, I Am, we started by defining:

Then we moved into audience research, focusing on Gen Z and conscious snackers who care about labels, but also vibe with bold, real storytelling.

We built out 4 key personas (The Ingredient Detective, The Hustler, The Mover, and The Conscious Eater), each with their goals, pain points, and what they’re really looking for in a brand.

Finally, we did a competitive analysis comparing Honestly, I Am with brands like Grenade, Fulfil, Barebells, Misfits, and Deliciously Ella to find a clear white space:
High-protein + clean ingredients + bold voice = no one’s doing all 3 well.

With strategy locked in, we translated all of that into visual feeling.

We built multiple mood boards, each rooted in different interpretations of the brand personality:

We looked at colors, type styles, packaging layouts, and real-world references. From this, we aligned with the client on a creative direction that was:

Loud but clean, Youthful but premium, Playful but purposeful

Before designing the logo, we selected the type system and color palette.

Why? Because the typography and colors set the entire mood.
For Honestly, I Am, we chose:

This phase helped us define the visual rules and made every design choice easier from here on.

When it came to the logo, we chose to lead with a wordmark.

The name Honestly, I Am was powerful on its own.
It didn’t need a symbol, it needed a voice.

We explored sketch directions, handwritten styles, bold variations, and how the logo could evolve across packaging, social, and merch.
We focused on legibility, boldness, and how it would pair with secondary typography and color blocks.

Once the logo, type, and colors were set, we moved into building the full identity system.

This included:

This is where the brand really came to life.
Each bar had its own voice. The system felt cohesive. And the visual tone matched the boldness of the product.

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Finally, we created a full brand guidelines document.

This included:

This guide makes it easy for the client to scale the brand consistently with or without us across everything from campaigns to retail to future products.

Here's the full case study on Behance → [ Behance ]

Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed this edition and would consider forwarding it to a friend.

If you hated it, reply and let us know what we could do differently. Same time next week <3